P1 and N170 components distinguish human-like and animal-like makeup stimuli

This study used event-related potentials to investigate thesensitivity of P1 and N170 components to human-like andanimal-like makeup stimuli, which were derived frompictures of Peking opera characters. As predicted, human-like makeup stimuli elicited larger P1 and N170 amplitudesthan did animal-like makeup stimuli. Interestingly, a righthemisphere advantage was observed for human-like butnot for animal-like makeup stimuli. Dipole source analysesof 130–200-ms window showed that the bilateral fusiformface area may contribute to the differential sensitivity of theN170 component in response to human-like and animal-like makeup stimuli. The present study suggests that theamplitudes of both the P1 and the N170 are sensitive forthe mouth component of face-like stimuli. NeuroReport24:482–486