The N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP) reflects experience-dependent neural changes in several forms of visual expertise, including expertise for visual words. Readers skilled in writing systems that link characters to phonemes (i.e., alphabetic writing) typically produce a left-lateralized N170 to visual word forms. This study examined the N170 in three Japanese scripts that l...

The study of face processing and its cognitive and neural basis is an exceptionally active research field (see Calder et al., 2011, for an overview). Numerous findings from electrophysiological studies using intracranial recordings (e.g., Allison et al., 1999) or event-related brain potentials (ERPs) have suggested the existence of face-selective cortical processing mechanisms. The N170 is an e...

The initial timing of face-specific effects in event-related potentials (ERPs) is a point of contention in face-processing research. The occasional reports of a larger P100 to face stimuli compared to other image categories is often attributed to differences in low-level stimulus characteristics. Separating the P100 from the classic N170 effect has not been done except by adjusting stimuli to c...

The ability to process and identify visual words requires efficient orthographic processing of print, consisting of letters in alphabetic languages or characters in Chinese. The N170 is a robust neural marker for orthographic processes. Both genetic and environmental factors, such as home literacy, have been shown to influence orthographic processing at the behavioral level, but their relative ...

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, uprigh...

BACKGROUND According to the traditional two-stage model of face processing, the facespecific N170 event-related potential (ERP) is linked to structural encoding of face stimuli, whereas later ERP components are thought to reflect processing of facial affect. This view has recently been challenged by reports of N170 modulations by emotional facial expression. This study examines the time-course ...

Event-related potential (ERP) studies of the human brain have shown that object categories can be reliably distinguished as early as 130-170 ms on the surface of occipito-temporal cortex, peaking at the level of the N170 component. Consistent with this finding, neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies suggest major functional distinctions within the human object recognition system, particula...

Whether face perception involves domain-specific or domain-general processing is an extensively debated issue. Relative to non-face objects and alphabetical scripts, Chinese characters provide a good contrast to faces because of their structural configuration, requirement for high level of visual expertise to literate Chinese people, and unique appearance and identity for each individual stimul...

A key to understanding visual cognition is to determine "where", "when", and "how" brain responses reflect the processing of the specific visual features that modulate categorization behavior-the "what". The N170 is the earliest Event-Related Potential (ERP) that preferentially responds to faces. Here, we demonstrate that a paradigmatic shift is necessary to interpret the N170 as the product of...

Character processing is a crucial cognitive skill that is highly emphasized and industriously cultivated in contemporary society. In the present study, using a competition paradigm, we examined the electrophysiological correlates of different relationships between Chinese characters and faces and between Chinese characters and houses during early visual processing. We observed that identifiable...