The Effect of Content and Physical Properties of Affective Pictures on Emotional Responses

Abstract

The aim of this research was to study the influence of both the emotional content and the physical characteristics of affective stimuli on the psychophysiological, behavioral and cognitive indexes of the emotional response. We selected 54 pictures from the IAPS, depicting unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant contents, and used two picture sizes as experimental conditions (120 × 90 cm and 52 × 42 cm). Sixty-one subjects were randomly assigned to each experimental condition. We recorded the startle blink reflex, skin conductance response, heart rate, free viewing time, and picture valence and arousal ratings. In line with previous research (e.g., Bradley, Codispoti, Cuthbert, & Lang, 2001), our data showed an effect of the affective content on all the measurements recorded. Importantly, effects of the size of the affective pictures on emotional responses were not found, indicating that the emotional content is more important than the formal properties of the stimuli in evoking the emotional response. Keywords: emotion, picture size, startle blink reflex, skin conductance response, heart rate El objetivo de esta investigación fue estudiar la influencia del contenido emocional y de las características físicas de los estímulos afectivos sobre los índices psicofisiológicos, conductuales y cognitivos de la respuesta emocional. Seleccionamos 54 imágenes del IAPS, representando contenidos desagradables, neutros y agradables y usamos dos tamaños de imagen como condiciones experimentales (120 × 90 cm y 52 × 42 cm). Los 61 sujetos que conformaban la muestra experimental se asignaron de forma aleatoria a cada condición experimental. Registramos el parpadeo reflejo de sobresalto, la respuesta de conductancia de la piel, la frecuencia cardiaca, el tiempo de visión y las estimaciones de valencia afectiva y arousal de las imágenes. De acuerdo con la investigación previa (p. ej., Bradley, Codispoti, Cuthbert y Lang, 2001), nuestros datos mostraron un efecto del contenido afectivo en todas las medidas registradas. Nuestros resultados no mostraron, sin embargo, efectos del tamaño de las imágenes afectivas sobre ninguna de las medidas registradas, lo que indica que el contenido afectivo es más importante que las propiedades formales de los estímulos para provocar respuestas emocionales. Palabras clave: emoción, tamaño de la imagen, parpadeo reflejo de sobresalto, respuesta de conductancia de la piel, frecuencia cardiaca

Watching emotional movies: Affective reactions and gender differences

“…Previous picture studies (Bradley et al, 2001b) found similar results in subjective ratings, in which women judged unpleasant pictures as more unpleasant and arousing compared to men who rated erotic material as more arousing and pleasant than women did. In spite of gender differences in subjective reports, men and women are quite similar in their affective physiological reactions to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli (Bradley et al, 2001b;Caseras et al, 2007;Frazier et al, 2004;Kreibig et al, 2007;Sanchez-Navarro and Martinez-Selva, 2006;Wrase et al, 2003). Moreover, although recent functional imaging studies found gender differences in amygdala and extrastriate visual cortex activation in reaction to emotional stimuli (pictures or films), these gender differences were not observed in terms of autonomic changes (Caseras et al, 2007;Hamann et al, 2004;Sabatinelli et al, 2004;Wrase et al, 2003).…”

Auditory cortex activation is modulated by emotion: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study

“…Delplanque et al (2007) showed that some of the negative stimuli contained in the international affective picture system (IAPS) have a higher fraction of lower spatial frequency as compared to neutral ones. Meanwhile, however, it has been shown that the emotional effect is not solely explained by physical properties De Cesarei and Codispoti, 2006;Sánchez-Navarro et al, 2006) and studies which carefully controlled their visual stimulus material for physical characteristics still report strong emotional effects (Junghofer et al, 2001(Junghofer et al, , 2006Keil et al, 2003;Sabatinelli et al, 2007).…”

Psychophysiological, Behavioral, and Cognitive Indices of the Emotional Response: A Factor-Analytic Study

“…In turn, heart-rate change has shown a significant positive relation to affective valence, with unpleasant pictures prompting slower heart rates than pleasant ones (Greenwald et al, 1989;Lang et al, 1993). However, several studies (e.g., Bradley, Lang, & Cuthbert, 1993;Cuthbert, Bradley, & Lang, 1996;Lang et al, 1993;Sánchez-Navarro, Martínez-Selva, Román, & Torrente, 2006) have also found a relationship between heart rate and arousal, with the most arousing pictures (pleasant and unpleasant) prompting the highest heart-rate deceleration.…”