Explicit and implicit facial expression processing based on hybrid stimuli: a case study of a patient with capsular-thalamic damage

first_pageDownload PDFsettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Explicit and Implicit Emotion Processing: The Role of Spatial Frequencies in a Case Study of Right Capsulo–Thalamic Damage by Vincenza Tommasi 1ORCID,Caterina Padulo 2,Giulia Prete 3ORCID,Antonio Leo 4,Alessandra Franco 4,Tatiana De Francesco 4,Maria Rosaria Viva 4,Luca Tommasi 3ORCID,Giuliana Lucci 5 andChiara Valeria Marinelli 1,*ORCID 1 Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab, Department of Humanities, Letters, Cultural Heritage, Education Sciences University of Foggia, 71121 Foggia, Italy 2 Department of Humanities, University of Naples “Federico II”, 80133 Nales, Italy 3 Department of Psychology, “G. d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara, 66100 Chieti, Italy 4 Santa Chiara Rehabilitation Institute, 73100 Lecce, Italy 5 Independent Researcher, 00161 Rome, Italy * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. J. Intell. 2026, 14(4), 60; https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence14040060 Submission received: 8 February 2026 / Revised: 29 March 2026 / Accepted: 30 March 2026 / Published: 3 April 2026 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Cognition and Emotions) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract This study examined the interaction between spatial frequencies and emotion processing using tachistoscopic presentations of emotional faces, in a patient with right capsulo–thalamic damage and a matched control group (N = 3). Emotional (happy, angry and sad) and neutral faces were presented in one of two ways: broadband emotional images and hybrid faces, which were created by superimposing emotional Low Spatial Frequencies (LSFs) to the High Spatial Frequencies (HSFs) of the same identity with a neutral expression, resulting in a subliminal presentation of the emotional content. According to LeDoux’s dual-route model, which suggests a cortical–conscious emotional analysis and subcortical–unconscious emotional processing, we expected healthy participants to show different variations in friendliness ratings compared with the case study patient. In particular, we hypothesized that while healthy participants should show friendliness ratings varying consistently with the facial expressions for both unfiltered (conscious) and filtered (unconscious) stimuli, reflecting the efficiency of both routes, the patient should show a selective deficit in the unfiltered condition due to the disruption of the thalamo–cortical connections. The results showed that healthy controls evaluated emotions consistently across both conditions. Notably, there were no significant differences between the case study patient and the control group for hybrid faces, suggesting that the “hidden” LSF successfully activated the intact subcortical route. However, significant differences emerged for unfiltered stimuli: the case study patient was able to distinguish between positive and negative valence, but she failed to discriminate between negative emotions. This finding suggests that the fine-grained differentiation of negative emotions requires an intact cortical analysis, mediated by the internal capsule.