Effects of emotional picture on movement trajectory: The role of meaning and the power of context

Abstract

A b s t r a c tAim of the study: The present study tests the effect of the attention to emotional content on movement trajectory. Methods: Pictures with positive and negative valence were presented on both sides of a simulated road in a driving-simulation tracking task for a series of two experiments for a total of 28 participants. Results: Both the approach and withdrawal effects toward/from the position in which emotional cues appeared have been found on the participants' trajectory. In contrast to previous literature and common-sense hypotheses, these effects depended on the picture-presentation setting more than on their emotional valence. Some predictions in the literature pointed to finding approach movements for positive pictures and withdrawal behaviours for negative valences. In this sense, only negative pictures presented in close positions on the left-side of the road have been found to provoke approach tendencies. Conclusions: The "emotional", right hemisphere processed picture presentations on the left side. Since it is impossible to select negative emotional pictures that do not have high emotional arousal, results point out to pictures arousal as the cause of the effects found. These findings are discussed under the perspectives of hemisphere laterality and models of motor control. The present study supports the MDRA model in its premise about how context can modify the meanings of attentional cues and, in turn, their impact on movement programming.

A method to measure Representativity and Univocity of traffic signs and to test their effect on movement

“…Therefore, these two concepts are operationalized as (cf. [[1], [2], [3]]): (a) if the sign really represents its meaning (representative sign), before the right matched definition-sign, RTs will be shorter than when the sign does not represent that meaning; (b) if the sign is not ambiguous (univocal sign), before the wrong matched definition-sign, RTs will be shorter than when the sign is ambiguous.…”

“…The reason for this decision is that mental models of the elements (e.g., [4]) closer to the route are more likely to cause an interference on movement [5]. Within this criteria, the secondary criterion can be: Same signs with different colors are randomly selected (since the color has not significant effect on the representativity or the univocity of traffic signs; [[1], [2], [3]]). The meaning of the sign is independent of the color they have (see Fig.…”

“…4 as an example) are separately introduced into a tracking task [8]. Since, when individuals do not understand any piece of information, they move closer to the source of that information (e.g., [5]), the first hypothesis is that the non-representative signs produce a differential influence on movement, as shown in previous literature ([[1], [2], [3]]). This effect will take the form of a significant greater deviation (from the center of the road) for non-representative signs than for representative signs.…”