Decoding the temporal dynamics of affective scene processing

Natural images containing affective scenes are used extensively to investigate the neural mechanisms of visual emotion processing. Functional fMRI studies have shown that these images activate a large-scale distributed brain network that encompasses areas in visual, temporal, and frontal cortices. The underlying spatial and temporal dynamics, however, remain to be better characterized. We recorded simultaneous EEG-fMRI data while participants passively viewed affective images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Applying multivariate pattern analysis to decode EEG data, and representational similarity analysis to fuse EEG data with simultaneously recorded fMRI data, we found that: (1) similar to 80 ms after picture onset, perceptual processing of complex visual scenes began in early visual cortex, proceeding to ventral visual cortex at similar to 100 ms, (2) between similar to 200 and similar to 300 ms (pleasant pictures: similar to 200 ms; unpleasant pictures: similar to 260 ms), affect-specific neural representations began to form, supported mainly by areas in occipital and temporal cortices, and (3) affect-specific neural representations were stable, lasting up to similar to 2 s, and exhibited temporally generalizable activity patterns. These results suggest that affective scene representations in the brain are formed temporally in a valence-dependent manner and may be sustained by recurrent neural interactions among distributed brain areas.

Automated summary

This study investigates the temporal dynamics of affective scene processing in the brain using simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings. The results show that perceptual processing of complex scenes begins in early visual cortex within 80 ms, followed by the ventral visual cortex at 100 ms. Affect-specific neural representations start to form between 200-300 ms, supported mainly by occipital and temporal cortices. These representations are stable and last up to 2 seconds, indicating the involvement of distributed brain areas in sustaining affective scene processing.