<p>The study reported here compared behavioral and neurophysiological indicators of the processing of facial expressions of anger, fear, joy, surprise, disgust, and sadness in female medical university students with rare panic attacks (PA) and in females without panic attacks (normal subjects). In the PA group, facial expressions of anger and fear were recognized with longer reaction times than happy expressions; the normal group showed no differences associated with the type of expression. As compared with the normal group, women with PA exhibited distinct increases in the amplitudes of the occipital P100 and P200 components for facial patterns, which were more significant for the expressions of anger and fear, indicating increased exogenous attention to this category of external cues. Higher amplitudes of the P100 and P200 components in event-related potentials (ERP) in the temporal regions in the PA group indicate elevated activity of limbic structures and, consequently, bottom-up attention to facial expressions. Higher ERP amplitude in the frontal cortex of young women with panic disorder was combined with signs of insensitivity of early N90 negativity to the type of emotional facial expressions. These results indicate an altered state of the attention network and the limbic-prefrontal complex in a non-clinical group of young women with rare panic attacks.</p>