Facing a real person: an event-related potential study

Although faces are typically perceived in the context of human interaction, face processing is commonly studied by displaying faces on a computer screen. This study on event-related potential examined whether the processing of faces differs depending on whether participants are viewing faces live or on a computer screen. In both the conditions, the participants were shown a real face, a dummy face, and a control object. N170 and early posterior negativity discriminated between faces and control object in both the conditions. Interestingly, early posterior negativity differentiated between the real face and the dummy face only in the live condition. The results indicate that a live face, as a potentially interacting stimulus, is processed differently than an inanimate face already at the early processing stages.