Integration of face features in expression discrimination studied with psychophysics and fMRI

Abstract

We studied facial cue integration by varying the expression (angry or happy) intensity in eyes and mouth separately and tested whether observers can integrate information when estimating the expression of the whole face. In addition, we tested whether conflicting taskirrelevant cues impairs discrimination performance. Our results show that participants were able to integrate the two facial features, and that the integration was obligatory. In fMRI, we found higher BOLD-activity for incongruent than congruent expressions in fusiform face area and medial frontal area.