The N170 component and its links to configural face processing: a rapid neural adaptation study.

A neural adaptation paradigm where adaptor and test stimuli were presented in rapid succession was employed to investigate links between the face-sensitive N170 component and configural face processing. In Experiment 1, schematic adaptor stimuli preceded naturalistic images of upright faces, inverted faces, or isolated eyes. Relative to a baseline condition with schematic house adaptors, upright and inverted schematic faces adapted the N170 to subsequent naturalistic faces, demonstrating that this component is associated with neural processes involved in the analysis of first-order relational face configuration. In Experiment 2, two-tone Mooney faces adapted the N170 to naturalistic faces relative to a baseline condition with Mooney houses, suggesting links between the N170 and holistic face processing. Results demonstrate that the N170 component does not exclusively reflect the detection and analysis of individual face parts, but also the processing of first-order configural and global gestalt features of faces. They also show that neural adaptation procedures can be used to identify the neural mechanisms that are responsible for category-specific ERP components such as the N170.