Abstract
Reading is known to be a highly complex, emotion-inducing process, usually involving connected and cohesive sequences of sentences and paragraphs. However, most empirical results, especially from studies using eye tracking, are either restricted to simple linguistic materials (e.g., isolated words, single sentences) or disregard valence-driven effects. The present study addressed the need for ecologically valid stimuli by examining the emotion potential of and reading behavior in emotional vignettes, often used in applied psychological contexts and discourse comprehension. To allow for a cross-domain comparison in the area of emotion induction, negatively and positively valenced vignettes were constructed based on pre-selected emotional pictures from the Nencki Affective Picture System (NAPS; Marchewka et al., 2014). We collected ratings of perceived valence and arousal for both material groups and recorded eye movements of 42 participants during reading and picture viewing. Linear mixed-effects models were performed to analyze effects of valence (i.e., valence category, valence rating) and stimulus domain (i.e., textual, pictorial) on ratings of perceived valence and arousal, eye movements in reading, and eye movements in picture viewing. Results supported the success of our experimental manipulation: emotionally positive stimuli (i.e., vignettes, pictures) were perceived more positively and less arousing than emotionally negative ones. The cross-domain comparison indicated that vignettes are able to induce stronger valence effects than their pictorial counterparts, no differences between vignettes and pictures regarding effects on perceived arousal were found. Analyses of eye movements in reading replicated results from experiments using isolated words and sentences: perceived positive text valence attracted shorter reading times than perceived negative valence at both the supralexical and lexical level. In line with previous findings, no emotion effects on eye movements in picture viewing were found. This is the first eye tracking study reporting superior valence effects for vignettes compared to pictures and valence-specific effects on eye movements in reading at the supralexical level.
Highlights
Imagine a future where the best-selling books aren’t the sole product of an author’s mind but the result of a machine learning assisted approach
Based on prior findings indicating stronger valence effects of emotionally positive words compared to pictures (e.g., Schlochtermeier et al, 2013; Tempel et al, 2013; Bayer and Schacht, 2014), we suggested that emotionally positive vignettes would, on average, be rated more positively than emotionally positive pictures
To illustrate effects of the experimental manipulation, descriptive statistics are provided for each valence category and stimulus domain
Summary
Imagine a future where the best-selling books aren’t the sole product of an author’s mind but the result of a machine learning assisted approach. Concerning psychological reading research, it would certainly require a stronger focus on ecologically valid study materials (Jacobs, 2015a; Pinheiro et al, 2017; Xue et al, 2019) In this context, most empirical results, especially from studies using eye tracking, are limited to the level of single words or experimentally controlled sentences (Clifton et al, 2007; Radach et al, 2008; Radach and Kennedy, 2013; Wallot et al, 2013). By contrast, reading as one of the essential daily activities commonly involves context information and goes along with emotional processes (e.g., Jacobs, 2011; Mar et al, 2011; Bohn-Gettler, 2019) This leads unavoidably to the second key point. Such studies largely neglected both reader’s emotions and valence-driven effects
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