Temporale lobe and occipito-temporal cortical areas play an important role in facial emotion perception (FEP). FEP might be represented by event-related brain oscillations. In patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), impairment of FEP was shown with behavioral and functional neuroimaging (FMRI, PET, MEG) but not event-related oscillations, which is a well known method for cognitive research studies. The present study aims to explore FEP by analyzing EEG event-related theta oscillations in patients with TLE.

21 patients with TLE and 19 healthy volunteers were included. During EEG recording, 15 photographs from Ekman and Friesen’s photo series showing five different facial expressions (angry, happy, neutral, fearful, sad) were used. Event-related theta (3–8 Hz) power spectrum and phase locking were analyzed by wavelet transform method using the Brain Vision Analyzer program.