engleski

Gaze differences in processing pleasant and unpleasant complementary pictures

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS) is a set of standardized emotionally evocative color photographs developed by NIMH Center for Emotion and Attention at the University of Florida. It contains more then 900 emotional pictures indexed by emotional valence, arousal and dominance. However, when the IAPS pictures were used in studying emotions with the event‐related potentials, the results have shown a great deal of variation and inconsistency. In this research we analyzed pleasant and unpleasant pictures with an eye‐tracker in order to determine to what the participants turn their gaze. Considering that perception can be influenced by color, edges, luminosity and contrast and since all those factors are collapsed on the pictures in IAPS, we compared color pictures with same black and white pictures. In previous eye‐tracking IAPS research we analyzed 12 emotional pictures and showed a significant difference in the way participants look at the pleasant and unpleasant pictures. Now, we wanted to see is that difference due to some features of pictures or just emotional factor on the picture. All pictures are divided into figure and background, and based on this division, 8 complementary pictures were selected differing by the content on the figure area (pleasant, unpleasant). In the present study three problems related to the IAPS pictures were addressed: ‐ Differences among participants in looking at the figure and background area of emotional picture ‐ Differences on gaze parameters depending on emotional valence of the picture (pleasant, unpleasant) ‐ Differences on gaze parameters depending on the color of the picture (color / black‐white) Participants in the eye‐tracking experiment were 25 psychology students with normal vision. Every participant saw all 8 presented pictures in color and same pictures in black/white version (4 pleasant, 4 unpleasant). This makes 200 analyzed units for color pictures and 200 analyzed units for black and white pictures. Every picture is divided into figure and background. There is a significant difference in number of fixations, average duration and dwell between background and figure, score is higher for the figure part for most of the analyzed pictures while no difference was found in number of entrances between figure and background. Both, pleasant and unpleasant pictures have higher average duration and dwell for figure then for the background while pleasant pictures have also higher number of fixations in the figure then in the background area. Also, both, colored and blackwhite pictures have higher average duration and dwell for the figure area while black‐white pictures also have higher number of fixations in the figure area. Participant spend more time looking at the figure part of the picture then background but there is no difference in the gaze depending on emotional valence and color of the complementary pleasant/unpleasant pictures.

IAPS; eyetracking; emotions

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