Identifying Emotions Par Formats: Intra-brain EEG-Connectivity during Emotion Recognition in Human Faces, Emoji Faces, and Stick Figures

Poster Session B - Sunday, April 14, 2024, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC

Munna R. Shainy¹ (munnarshainy@gmail.com), Meghna Shekar¹, Sumit Sharma¹, Arun Sasidharan², Vrinda Marigowda¹; ¹Axxonet Brain Research Laboratory, Axxonet System Technologies, Bengaluru, ²National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru

Evidence suggests humans recognize emotions, not just in other humans but also in inanimate objects. This study aims to demarcate the differences in intra-brain connectivity during recognition of embodied emotions using stick figure configurations as opposed to that in emoji faces and human faces. Fifteen young, healthy adults attempted a visual search paradigm-based experiment in which they recognized positive, negative, and neutral emotions depicted in three formats. Simultaneously, 32-channel EEG recordings at a 1000 Hz sampling rate were acquired, and using Brainstorm software, preprocessed epochs were analyzed using Phase Transfer Entropy. Statistical comparisons for recognition of positive emotions in stick figures, as opposed to negative emotions, revealed weaker connections from P3 to frontocentral areas and strong Cz to F7 connections in the delta band, unlike in positive emoji and human faces conditions, implying reduced need for cognitive control and unique decision making. Weaker frontal to parieto-occipital (FP2 to Pz and O1) connections in the beta band observed during the positive emoji condition imply visual and emotion processing, while a distinctive pattern of weaker T8 to F3 and stronger O2 to T8 connections observed during the positive stick figure condition. Further, in the gamma band, P8 to FP1 and O2 to CP3 connections are found to be stronger during positive emoji faces whilst Pz to Fz connections are strong during positive stick figures. Overall, the findings highlight intra-brain connections during the recognition of embodied emotions involving both unique and comparable differences from human and emoji faces.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotional responding