Are effects of emotion in single words non-lexical? Evidence from event-related brain potentials

► For the first time, emotion effects to words were investigated within different word classes and word frequencies. ► The early posterior negativity (EPN) in ERPs started earlier for emotional nouns and adjectives than for verbs. ► No late positive complex (LPC) was found for emotional nouns. ► Both EPN and LPC are independent of word frequency. ► EPN and LPC are therefore likely to depend on words meaning and emerge on a post-lexical processing stage.