High Arousal Images Research Articles

Working through negativity: The influence of affective states on effort-based decision-making

Affective states can influence a range of cognitive outcomes, such as decision-making. However, the effect of valence and arousal state inductions on effort-based decision-making is unclear. This study employed a mixed design in which all participants viewed low and high-arousal images, and participants were randomized to either a neutral, positive, or negative valence image manipulation. Participants repeatedly viewed a valenced-image and then completed a trial of the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EFfRT). Results of Experiment 1 (N = 197) demonstrated that a valence induction manipulation influenced effort-based decision-making. Individuals in the negative valence condition chose fewer high-effort, difficult options than those in the neutral and positive valence conditions. Experiment 2 (N = 226) sought to explore the interplay between affective states and motivation on effort-based decision-making. Results of Experiment 2 replicated the finding that negative affective states impair willingness to engage in effortful tasks and showed that negative affect moderated the relationship between intrinsic motivation and willingness to exert effort. Self-reported arousal ratings, but not valence ratings, were also predictive of effort-based decisions. This work demonstrates that affective states may alter the cost of effort expenditure for potential rewards. Negative valence weakens one's volition to exert physical effort to obtain a monetary reward.

A South African adaptation of the international affective picture system: The influence of socioeconomic status and education level on picture ratings.

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) is used globally in emotion research. However, normative studies in diverse contexts do not consider the influence of education and socioeconomic status (SES) on picture ratings. We created the South African Affective Picture System (SA-APS) for use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by replacing some original IAPS images with pictures featuring more diverse groups of people and culturally appropriate stimuli. Healthy South African adults from higher and lower education/SES backgrounds (n = 80; n = 70 respectively) provided valence and arousal ratings for 340 images from the original IAPS and 340 images from the new SA-APS. Overall, their ratings of SA-APS images were better aligned with the US normative standards than their ratings of IAPS images, particularly with regard to valence. Those with higher SES/education rated IAPS images differently from those with lower SES/education (e.g., valence ratings of the latter were similar to US normative standards, whereas those of the former were more negative). Regression modelling indicated that sex and SES significantly predicted the current sample's IAPS and SA-APS ratings (e.g., women and higher-SES participants rated high-arousal images as being significantly more arousing than men and lower-SES participants); hence, we created regression-based norms for both picture sets. These norms are especially useful in emotion research, because few studies emerge from LMICs, and few instruments account for substantial sociodemographic diversity. Extending the reach of tools such as the IAPS to LMICs can help ensure a more globally representative body of research in this field.

Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal on Comprehension and Assembly of Instructions

Research on multimedia comprehension from the emotional design perspective has suggested that including graphical elements enhances positive affect and learning. On the other hand, the seductive detail literature found that attractive but irrelevant images can hinder comprehension and learning. The present study has addressed the effect of decorative images with affective properties (valence and arousal) in procedural multimedia comprehension. First, a validation study determined the images’ affective properties; stimuli high or low in both dimensions were systematically introduced in the second experiment, which tested the images’ effect in mean study time when learning the instructions, and accuracy during object assembly. Low arousal images made participants study the instructions faster, and high arousal images led to more errors in performance. Valence did not have a differential effect. Overall, in line with the seductive detail effect, these findings argue against including irrelevant, highly arousing, emotional information in instructional materials.

Why doesn't emotional valence affect subitising and counting in simple enumeration?

Accurate visual-spatial enumeration involves either the subitising process (for 1-4 items) or the counting process (for larger numbers of items). Although these processes differ, both are thought to involve attentional selection. Many studies show that emotional valence, the negativity or positivity of a stimulus, influences attention and yet Watson and Blagrove found valence had no effect on simple enumeration (enumeration without distractors). To shed light on this surprising finding, we had participants enumerate 1 to 9 dots after viewing emotional scenes, using images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) to manipulate valence and arousal. To ensure valence and arousal categorisations were valid for each participant, we individualised them based on their own ratings. Results indicated that both valence and arousal affected enumeration latencies, with enumeration fastest after positive high arousal images and slowest after negative low arousal images. Disengagement deficits were apparent from slowed enumeration after negative images, but there was no evidence that valence affected the breadth of the attentional focus (no interactions with display area). Despite hints that valence may affect subitising and counting differently (weak trends to a cross-over interaction in RT slopes), no firm conclusions can be made because differences were small (<20 ms/item).

Effect of emotional enhancement of memory on recollection process in young adults: the influence factors and neural mechanisms

Emotional enhancement of memory (EEM) is thought to modulate memory recollection rather than familiarity. However, the contributing factors and neural mechanisms are not well understood. To address these issues, we investigated how valence, arousal, and the amount of devoted attention influence the EEM effect on recollection. We also compared the topological properties among hippocampus- and perirhinal and entorhinal cortex-mediated emotional memory processing networks. Finally, we evaluated the correlations between emotional memory/EEM and inherent properties (i.e., amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and node degree, efficiency, and betweenness) of the hippocampus and perirhinal and entorhinal cortices in 59 healthy young adults by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. EEM was elicited by incidental encoding, negative images, and positive high-arousal images. The hippocampus was correlated with recollection sensitivity and EEMnegative-high-arousal. The emotional memory processing network mediated by the hippocampus had higher clustering coefficient, local efficiency, and normalized characteristic path length but lower normalized global efficiency than those mediated by the perirhinal and entorhinal cortices. The entorhinal cortex was associated with both recollection and familiarity sensitivity, but showed different correlation patterns. The perirhinal cortex was highly correlated with familiarity sensitivity of negative low-arousal stimuli. These results demonstrate that the EEM effect on memory recollection is influenced by valence, stimulus arousal, and amount of attention involved during encoding. Moreover, the hippocampus and perirhinal and entorhinal cortices play distinct roles in the recollection and familiarity of emotional memory and the EEM effect.

Trait anger modulates neural activity in the fronto-parietal attention network.

Anger is considered a unique high-arousal and approach-related negative emotion. The influence of individual differences in trait anger on the processing of visual stimuli is relevant to questions about emotional processing and remains to be explored. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we explored the neural responses to standardized images, selected based on valence and arousal ratings in a group of men with high trait anger compared to those with normative to low anger scores (controls). Results show increased activation in the left-lateralized ventral fronto-parietal attention network to unpleasant images by individuals with high trait anger. There was also a group by arousal interaction in the left thalamus/pulvinar such that individuals with high trait anger had increased pulvinar activation to the high-arousal (versus low arousal) unpleasant images as compared to controls. Thus, individual differences in trait anger in men are associated with brain regions subserving executive attentional and sensory integration during the processing of unpleasant emotional stimuli, particularly to high arousal images.

Cortisol and stimulus-induced arousal level differentially impact memory for items and backgrounds

ABSTRACTMost studies examine the effects of stress on memory for visual information test memory for entire scenes. However, arousal levels may differentially influence memory for backgrounds as opposed to items. Participants encoded scenes that included a negative-high-arousal, negative-moderate-arousal, or neutral item on a neutral background. After a 30-minute (Experiment 1) or 48-hour delay (Experiment 2), participants underwent a stressor or control task while heart rate was recorded. A recognition memory task was then given with items and backgrounds presented separately. High-arousal images had a greater detriment in background memory than moderate-arousal images. Further, though there was evidence that change in cortisol level at retrieval was associated with impaired memory for items, it was not associated with detriments in background memory. Increased heart rate was associated with impaired memory for both items and backgrounds. This suggests that the level of sympathetic and cortisol reactivity differentially affects memory for items and backgrounds.

Electrodermal activity processing: a convex optimization approach.

This paper reports on a novel model based on convex optimization methods for the analysis of the skin conductance (SC) as response of the electrodermal activity (EDA) to affective stimuli. Starting from previous assessed methodological approaches, this new model proposes a decomposition of SC into tonic and phasic components through the solution of a convex optimization problem. Previous knowledge about the physiology of the EDA is accounted for by means of an appropriate choice of constraints and regularizers. In order to test the effectiveness of the new approach, an experimental session in which 9 healthy subjects were stimulated using affective pictures gathered from the IAPS database was designed and carried out. The experimental session included series of negative-valence high-arousal images and series of neutral images, with an inter-stimulus interval of about 2 seconds for both neutral and high arousal pictures. Next, a statistical analysis was performed on a set of features extracted from the phasic driver and the tonic signal estimated by the model. Results showed that the phasic driver extracted from the model was able to strongly distinguish arousal sessions from neutral ones. Conversely, no significant difference was found for the tonic components. This experimental findings are consistent with the literature and confirm that the phasic component is strictly related to changes in the sympathetic activity of the autonomic nervous system. Although preliminary, these results are very encouraging and future work will progress to further validate the model through specific and controlled experiments.

Learning to decode human emotions from event-related potentials

Reported works on electroencephalogram (EEG)-based emotion recognition systems generally employ the principles of supervised learning to build subject-dependent (single/intra-subject) models. Building subject-independent (multiple/inter-subject) models is a harder problem due to the EEG data variability between subjects. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we provide a framework for selection of a small number of basic temporal features, event-related potential (ERP) amplitudes, and latencies that are sufficiently robust to discriminate emotion states across multiple subjects. Second, we test comparatively the feasibility of six standard unsupervised (clustering) techniques to build intra-subject and inter-subject models to discriminate emotion valence in the ERPs collected while subjects were viewing high arousal images with positive or negative emotional content.

Emotional modulation of attention affects time perception: Evidence from event-related potentials

Emotional effects on human time perception are generally attributed to arousal speeding up or slowing down the internal clock. The aim of the present study is to investigate the less frequently considered role of attention as an alternative mediator of these effects with the help of event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants produced short intervals (0.9, 1.5, 2.7, and 3.3s) while viewing high arousal images with pleasant and unpleasant contents in comparison to neutral images. Behavioral results revealed that durations were overproduced for the 0.9s interval whereas, for 2.7 and 3.3s intervals, underproduction was observed. The effect of affective valence was present for the shorter durations and decreased as the target intervals became longer. More specifically, the durations for unpleasant images were less overproduced in the 0.9s intervals, and for the 1.5s trials, durations for unpleasant images were slightly underproduced, compared to pleasant images, which were overproduced. The analysis of different ERP components suggests possible attention processes related to the timing of affective images in addition to changes in pacemaker speed. Early Posterior Negativity (EPN) was larger for positive than for negative images, indicating valence-specific differences in activation of early attention mechanisms. Within the early P1 and the Late Positive Potential (LPP) components, both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli exhibited equal affective modulation. Contingent Negative Variation (CNV) remained independent of both timing performance and affective modulation. This pattern suggests that both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli enhanced arousal and captured attention, but the latter effect was more pronounced for pleasant stimuli. The valence-specificity of affective attention revealed by ERPs combined with behavioral timing results suggests that attention processes indeed contribute to emotion-induced temporal distortions, especially for longer target intervals.

Dispositional mindfulness and the attenuation of neural responses to emotional stimuli

Considerable research has disclosed how cognitive reappraisals and the modulation of emotional responses promote successful emotion regulation. Less research has examined how the early processing of emotion-relevant stimuli may create divergent emotional response consequences. Mindfulness--a receptive, non-evaluative form of attention--is theorized to foster emotion regulation, and the present study examined whether individual differences in mindfulness would modulate neural responses associated with the early processing of affective stimuli. Focus was on the late positive potential (LPP) of the event-related brain potential to visual stimuli varying in emotional valence and arousal. This study first found, replicating past research, that high arousal images, particularly of an unpleasant type, elicited larger LPP responses. Second, the study found that more mindful individuals showed lower LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images, even after controlling for trait attentional control. Conversely, two traits contrasting with mindfulness--neuroticism and negative affectivity--were associated with higher LPP responses to high arousal unpleasant images. Finally, mindfulness was also associated with lower LPP responses to motivationally salient pleasant images (erotica). These findings suggest that mindfulness modulates neural responses in an early phase of affective processing, and contribute to understanding how this quality of attention may promote healthy emotional functioning.

Aesthetic images modulate emotional responses to reading news messages on a small screen: A psychophysiological investigation

Abstract pictures, such as artistic drawings, may evoke subtle emotions in their observers via aesthetic experiences. We examined among 44 participants the emotional responses as measured by facial electromyography (EMG) to aesthetic background images that varied on the emotional valence (unpleasant to pleasant) and arousal (calming to exciting) dimensions and were presented both separately and as background images for news messages. Effects of image arousal on free recall of news messages were also examined. A priori pleasant compared to unpleasant images were associated with higher orbicularis oculi EMG responses, both when presented alone and when presented as news message backgrounds. Analyses based on the participants' subjective pleasantness ratings also showed greater corrugator supercilii EMG activity for unpleasant compared to pleasant images. High-arousal as compared to low-arousal images improved recall for the superimposed news messages. In contrast, recall was not affected by a priori image valence or subjective pleasantness ratings. The results demonstrate that abstract images can be used to evoke emotional responses in the viewers that persist even when unrelated messages are superimposed on them. Similarly, high-arousal images can be used to enhance memory for superimposed textual messages.

How fleeting emotions affect hazard perception and steering while driving: The impact of image arousal and valence

Video-billboards and portable video-display devices are becoming increasingly common and the images they project can often be dramatic or provocative. This study investigated the lingering effects of emotion-evoking images on driving as measured in a driving simulator. Images were projected on an in-vehicle display while drivers followed a lead vehicle at a safe distance. To ensure attention to the images drivers were required to indicate whether each image was positive or negative by pressing a button. Occasional braking events (sudden decelerations in the lead vehicle that necessitated braking) occurred either 250 or 500ms after the button press. In the 250ms delay condition braking RT was faster after high arousal images (fastest for high arousal positive images); following a 500ms delay braking RT was slower after high arousal images (slowest for high arousal negative images). Responding to all images reduced steering performance (in the period after the image but before the button press) but image valence had an effect on steering as well. Positive images were associated with better steering performance than negative images, especially when they were both low in arousal: a result that supports the broaden-and-build hypothesis of positive emotions and the theory that ambient (wide field/peripheral) vision controls steering performance. We discuss implications for both basic research on attention–emotion and applied research on driving.

Effects of age on detection of emotional information.

Age differences were examined in affective processing, in the context of a visual search task. Young and older adults were faster to detect high arousal images compared with low arousal and neutral items. Younger adults were faster to detect positive high arousal targets compared with other categories. In contrast, older adults exhibited an overall detection advantage for emotional images compared with neutral images. Together, these findings suggest that older adults do not display valence-based effects on affective processing at relatively automatic stages.

Experimental and Psychotherapeutic Demand Characteristics and the Cognitive Therapy Rationale: An Analogue Study

In cognitive therapy (CT) for depression, the treatment rationale is presented in lay terms as an ABC sequence such that A represents a recent event, B represents automatic thoughts about the event, and C represents the resulting affective response. The role of demand characteristics in rationales such as this has been extensively explored in research on systematic desensitization but little has been done with regards to CT. This study investigated the influence of the CT rationale and an alternative rationale on participants' self-reported thoughts and feelings in response to images. While the CT rationale assumes that cognition precedes and causes affect, the alternative rationale flipped the terms of ABC into an ACB theory in which affect is assumed to precede and cause cognition. We found that both rationales influenced reporting: Those who received the ABC rationale reported that more automatic thoughts were evoked first, while those who received the ACB rationale reported that more automatic feelings were evoked first. The rationales also were more influential on high arousal images and less influential for participants with previous therapy experience. Results are discussed in terms of experimental demand characteristics (conscious compliance) and psychotherapeutic demand characteristics (nonconscious changes in clinically relevant behavior) and implications for therapy.