A preliminary set of text-driven scripts for emotional imagery elicitation
Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
Major
Psychology
Minor
Criminal Justice
2nd Student Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
2nd Student Major
Psychology
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History
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Graduate
3rd Student Major
Psychology
4th Student Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Freshmen
4th Student Major
Psychology
4th Student Minor
Biology
5th Student Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Graduate
5th Student Major
Psychology
6th Student Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Senior
6th Student Major
Psychology
7th Student Academic Level at Time of Presentation
Faculty/Staff
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David R. Herring
Presentation Format
Poster Presentation
Abstract/Description
It is essential in emotion science to have standardized stimuli to aid in replication as well as the elicitation of basic defensive and appetitive states. There are numerous standardized stimulus sets for eliciting emotion perception including scenes, faces, videos, and audio scripts (Coan & Allen, 2007). These stimuli are typically rated subjectively on pleasantness and activation/arousal scales. There are, however, few studies that provide normative pleasantness and arousal ratings from scripts useful in predicting emotional states for future studies on emotional imagery. The goals of the current study were to add to the literature 1) standardized pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant text-driven scripts rated on pleasantness and arousal, and 2) a more substantial set of stimuli that could be useful in electrophysiological studies requiring large amounts of experimental trials. Thirty-five undergraduate students were presented 133 text-driven scripts, which were classified as pleasant (i.e., excitement, erotica, relaxation), neutral, or unpleasant (i.e., contamination, embarrassment, threatening). While reading the script, participants actively imagined themselves in the presented scenario and then provided pleasantness and arousal ratings. As expected, from pleasant to neutral to unpleasant conditions there was a positive linear trend with pleasantness ratings (p< .001). Further, from pleasant to neutral conditions arousal ratings declined, whereas from neutral to unpleasant conditions arousal ratings rose. Thus, we found a significant quadratic trend for the arousal ratings (p< .001). Taken together, these preliminary data indicate that these novel text-driven scripts are eliciting the predicted emotional responses.
Keywords: imagery, emotion, text-driven scripts, arousal, hedonic valence, norming study
Spring Scholars Week 2019 Event
Sigma Xi Poster Competition (Juried)
A preliminary set of text-driven scripts for emotional imagery elicitation
It is essential in emotion science to have standardized stimuli to aid in replication as well as the elicitation of basic defensive and appetitive states. There are numerous standardized stimulus sets for eliciting emotion perception including scenes, faces, videos, and audio scripts (Coan & Allen, 2007). These stimuli are typically rated subjectively on pleasantness and activation/arousal scales. There are, however, few studies that provide normative pleasantness and arousal ratings from scripts useful in predicting emotional states for future studies on emotional imagery. The goals of the current study were to add to the literature 1) standardized pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant text-driven scripts rated on pleasantness and arousal, and 2) a more substantial set of stimuli that could be useful in electrophysiological studies requiring large amounts of experimental trials. Thirty-five undergraduate students were presented 133 text-driven scripts, which were classified as pleasant (i.e., excitement, erotica, relaxation), neutral, or unpleasant (i.e., contamination, embarrassment, threatening). While reading the script, participants actively imagined themselves in the presented scenario and then provided pleasantness and arousal ratings. As expected, from pleasant to neutral to unpleasant conditions there was a positive linear trend with pleasantness ratings (p< .001). Further, from pleasant to neutral conditions arousal ratings declined, whereas from neutral to unpleasant conditions arousal ratings rose. Thus, we found a significant quadratic trend for the arousal ratings (p< .001). Taken together, these preliminary data indicate that these novel text-driven scripts are eliciting the predicted emotional responses.
Keywords: imagery, emotion, text-driven scripts, arousal, hedonic valence, norming study