Scarce previous data on how the location where an emotional stimulus appears in
the visual scene modulates its perception suggest that, for functional reasons, a perceptual
advantage may exist, vertically, for stimuli presented at the lower visual field
(LoVF) and, horizontally, for stimuli presented at the left visual field (LeVF). However,
this issue has been explored through a limited number of spatial locations, usually in
a single spatial dimension (e.g., horizontal) and invariant eccentricities. Event-related
potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 39 participants perceiving brief neutral
(wheels) and emotional stimuli (spiders) presented at 17 different locations, one
foveal and 16 at different peripheral coordinates. As a secondary scope, we explored
the role of the magnocellular (M) and the parvocellular (P) visual pathways by presenting
an isoluminant/heterochromatic (P-biased) and a heteroluminant/isochromatic
version (M-biased) of each stimulus. Emo > Neu effects were observed in
PN1 (120 ms) for stimuli located at fovea, and in PN2 (215 ms) for stimuli located
both at fovea and diverse peripheral regions. A factorial approach to these effects
further revealed that: (a) emotional stimuli presented in the periphery are efficiently
perceived, without evident decrease from para- to perifovea; (b) peripheral
Emo > Neu effects are reflected 95 ms later than foveal Emo > Neu effects in ERPs;
(c) LoVF is more involved than UVF in these effects; (d) our data fail to support the
LeVF advantage previously reported, and (e) Emo > Neu effects were significant for
both M and P stimuliComunidad de Madrid, Grant/Award Number:
HUM19-HUM5705; Ministerio de Ciencia,
Innovación y Universidades, Grant/Award
Number: PGC2018-093570-B-IO