Figure 1
From: Context matters: task relevance shapes neural responses to emotional facial expressions
(A) Emotion task. Each trial started with presenting a white cross that participants had to fixate on together with a red circle on the bottom left side. Participants had to press the key just below the stimulus. Then, a red circle appeared on the right side, and after a variable delay, the left circle disappeared and a picture depicting a facial expression was shown in the middle of the screen. If an emotional expression (happy or fearful) was displayed, participants had to move their index finger from the left to the right button as quickly as possible (go trials). Differently, if the facial expression was neutral, participants had to refrain from moving until the picture disappeared (No-go trials). A visual feedback was provided. All stimuli were projected against a black background of uniform luminance. (B) Gender task. The sequence of events was the same as (A) until the display of the facial picture. In the male version, participants were instructed to move their index finger from the left to the right button as quickly as possible (Go trials) at the presentation of a male face and to refrain from moving when a female face was shown (No-go trials) irrespectively of the emotional expression. Vice versa in the female version.
