Adaptation of the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for European Portuguese

Abstract

This study presents the results of the adaptation of the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for European Portuguese (EP). Following the original procedure of Lang et al., 2000 native speakers of EP rated the 1,182 pictures of the last version of the IAPS set on the three affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). Results showed that the normative values of the IAPS for EP are properly distributed in the affective space of valence and arousal, showing the typical boomerang-shaped distribution observed in previous studies. Results also point to important differences in the way Portuguese females and males react to affective pictures that should be taken into consideration when planning and conducting research with Portuguese samples. Furthermore, the results from the cross-cultural comparisons between the EP ratings and the ratings from the American, Spanish, Brazilian, Belgian, Chilean, Indian, and BosnianHerzegovinian standardizations, showed that in spite of the fact that IAPS stimuli elicited affective responses that are similar across countries and cultures (at least in Western cultures), there are differences in the way Portuguese individuals react to IAPS pictures that strongly recommend the use of the normative values presented in this work. They can be downloaded as a supplemental archive at

Minho Affective Sentences (MAS): Probing the roles of sex, mood, and empathy in affective ratings of verbal stimuli

“…Figure 1 shows the bivariate distribution of valence and arousal ratings averaged across all participants. The distribution confirms the typical boomerangshaped distribution reported by previous studies that have probed affective ratings for verbal (e.g., M. M. Bradley & Lang, 1999;Soares et al, 2012) and nonverbal (e.g., M. M. Bradley & Lang, 2007;Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008;Soares et al, 2013Soares et al, , 2015 stimuli. Similarly to pictures (e.g., Soares et al, 2015), sounds (e.g., Soares et al, 2013), and words (e.g., Soares et al, 2012), sentences rated as either highly pleasant or highly unpleasant were simultaneously rated as more arousing.…”

“…In keeping with our previous findings (e.g., Soares et al, 2012;Soares et al, 2013Soares et al, , 2015, women rated negative sentences as more pleasant and more arousing, and positive sentences as more pleasant than did men. Also, women provided lower dominance ratings than did men when rating neutral and negative sentences.…”

“…The dimensional results corroborated the a priori sentence categorizations: negative sentences (e.g., "The boss humiliated the team") were classified as the most unpleasant and arousing verbal stimuli, whereas positive sentences (e.g., "The actor is hilarious") were classified as the most pleasant verbal stimuli. In addition, we confirmed a tendency previously observed when investigating the affective ratings of pictures (e.g., Soares et al, 2015), sounds (e.g., Soares et al, 2013), and single words (e.g., Soares et al, 2012): the quadratic function underlying valence and arousal ratings indicated that highly pleasant and unpleasant sentences were more likely to be rated as highly arousing. This finding demonstrates the comparability of the present findings to previously published affective norms for single words, pictures, and sounds (e.g., M. M. Bradley & Lang, 1999;Grühn & Scheibe, 2008;Moors et al, 2013;Redondo et al, 2007;Soares et al, 2012;Soares et al, 2013Soares et al, , 2015Võ et al, 2009;Warriner, Kuperman, & Brysbaert, 2013).…”

“…On the basis of a robust body of evidence demonstrating differences between women and men in ratings of affective stimuli (e.g., Soares et al, 2012;Soares et al, 2013Soares et al, , 2015, we additionally probed the influence of participants' sex on the sentences evaluations. We expected differences in affective ratings between male and female participants.…”

Lisbon Symbol Database (LSD): Subjective norms for 600 symbols

“…For instance, Snodgrass and Vanderwart's (1980) stimulus set, originally evaluated by a North American sample, has been validated in several countries and cultures, including Portugal, Italy, Russia, and Japan (for a review, see Wang, Chen, & Zhu, 2014). Other international normative stimulus sets, such as the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW; Soares, Comesaña, Pinheiro, Simões, & Frade, 2012), International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS; Soares et al, 2013), and International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Soares et al, 2014) have also recently been adapted to the Portuguese population. Likewise, the present symbol set is also readily available for cross-validation in other countries.…”