Buzzwords Early Cortical Responses to Emotional Words During

ABSTRACT—Electroencephalographic event-related brain potentials were recorded as subjects read, without further instruction, consecutively presented sequences of words. We varied the speed at which the sequences were presented (3 Hz and 1 Hz) and the words ’ emotional significance. Early event-related cortical responses during reading differentiated pleasant and unpleasant words from neu-tral words. Emotional words were associated with en-hanced brain responses arising in predominantly left occipito-temporal areas 200 to 300 ms after presentation. Emotional words were also spontaneously better remem-bered than neutral words. The early cortical amplification was stable across 10 repetitions, providing evidence for robust enhancement of early visual processing of stimuli with learned emotional significance and underscoring th