Affective auditory stimuli: Adaptation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS-2) for European Portuguese

In this study, we present the normative values of the adaptation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS-2; Bradley & Lang, 2007a) for European Portuguese (EP). The IADS-2 is a standardized database of 167 naturally occurring sounds that is widely used in the study of emotions. The sounds were rated by 300 college students who were native speakers of EP, in the three affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance, by using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM). The aims of this adaptation were threefold: (1)?to provide researchers with standardized and normatively rated affective sounds to be used with an EP population; (2)?to investigate sex and cultural differences in the ratings of affective dimensions of auditory stimuli between EP and the American (Bradley & Lang, 2007a) and Spanish (Fernández-Abascal et al., Psicothema 20:104–113 2008; Redondo, Fraga, Padrón, & Piñeiro, Behavior Research Methods 40:784–790 2008) standardizations; and (3)?to promote research on auditory affective processing in Portugal. Our results indicated that the IADS-2 is a valid and useful database of digitized sounds for the study of emotions in a Portuguese context, allowing for comparisons of its results with those of other international studies that have used the same database for stimulus selection. The normative values of the EP adaptation of the IADS-2 database can be downloaded along with the online version of this article.     

The International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS): Spanish norms

The International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS): Spanish Norms. The Spanish norms for the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS) are reported. The IADS is a standardized set of 110 digitalized sounds which are both reliable and valid for the experimental study of emotional processes. The construction of the IADS is based on Peter J. Lang's dimensional model of emotions. Participants were 1.716 university students (1.136 women) who assessed the sounds using the three scales of the Self-Assessment Manikin: affective valence, arousal, and dominance. The results show a distribution of the sounds, within the bidimensional plot defined by valence and arousal, similar to the North-American student population with a typical boomerang shape. No significant differences were found when comparing men and women nor when comparing the Spanish and North-American samples in the total set of sounds. The results are discussed in relation to the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). The norms for each of the 110 sounds are presented in an annexed table.     

A cluster-based approach to selecting representative stimuli from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) database

The International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008) is a stimulus database that is frequently used to investigate various aspects of emotional processing. Despite its extensive use, selecting IAPS stimuli for a research project is not usually done according to an established strategy, but rather is tailored to individual studies. Here we propose a standard, replicable method for stimulus selection based on cluster analysis, which re-creates the group structure that is most likely to have produced the valence arousal, and dominance norms associated with the IAPS images. Our method includes screening the database for outliers, identifying a suitable clustering solution, and then extracting the desired number of stimuli on the basis of their level of certainty of belonging to the cluster they were assigned to. Our method preserves statistical power in studies by maximizing the likelihood that the stimuli belong to the cluster structure fitted to them, and by filtering stimuli according to their certainty of cluster membership. In addition, although our cluster-based method is illustrated using the IAPS, it can be extended to other stimulus databases.     

BALDEY: A database of auditory lexical decisions

In an auditory lexical decision experiment, 5541 spoken content words and pseudowords were presented to 20 native speakers of Dutch. The words vary in phonological make-up and in number of syllables and stress pattern, and are further representative of the native Dutch vocabulary in that most are morphologically complex, comprising two stems or one stem plus derivational and inflectional suffixes, with inflections representing both regular and irregular paradigms; the pseudowords were matched in these respects to the real words. The BALDEY (“biggest auditory lexical decision experiment yet”) data file includes response times and accuracy rates, with for each item morphological information plus phonological and acoustic information derived from automatic phonemic segmentation of the stimuli. Two initial analyses illustrate how this data set can be used. First, we discuss several measures of the point at which a word has no further neighbours and compare the degree to which each measure predicts our lexical decision response outcomes. Second, we investigate how well four different measures of frequency of occurrence (from written corpora, spoken corpora, subtitles, and frequency ratings by 75 participants) predict the same outcomes. These analyses motivate general conclusions about the auditory lexical decision task. The (publicly available) BALDEY database lends itself to many further analyses.     

Control of responding by the location of an auditory stimulus: role of rise time of the stimulus

The control of responding by the location of tone bursts of 0.2- or 50-msec rise time was investigated in three albino rats. The apparatus consisted of an enclosure with two levers, two loudspeakers (in different locations), and a dipper feeder. The animal was exposed to tone bursts from either one or the other of the two speakers, and the speaker through which the tone bursts were delivered on any particular trial alternated in an irregular manner. Responses on one lever were reinforced with food in the presence of tone bursts from one speaker; responses on the second lever were reinforced with food in the presence of tone bursts from the second speaker. Responding came under the control of the location of 4-kHz tone bursts of 0.2-msec rise time within the first session. At this rise time, animals maintained a stable level of correct responding of greater than 95%. When the rise time was increased to 50 msec the percentage of correct responding fell to an average of 80 to 85%. It was concluded that location of an auditory stimulus is a powerful controller of responding in rats and that the degree of control is dependent upon rise time.     

An automated version of the digit symbol substitution test (DSST)

An automated version of the Digit Symbol Substitution Test is described that employs a relatively inexpensive, commercially available microcomputer to present and score the task. Advantages of the automated DSST include: (1) objective scoring of both speed and accuracy of test performance, (2) printed copies of test scores, (3) convenient administration under standardized test conditions, and (4) the capacity for repeated assessment of an individual’s performance over time. Task performance data for individual subjects following doses of pentobarbital are presented; these data illustrate both the stability of task performance under constant conditions and the within-subjects sensitivity of task performance to experimental manipulations.     

Interactive-Virtual Reality (IVR) Exercise: An Examination of In-Task and Pre-to-Post Exercise Affective Changes

In this research, we examine the influence of imposed vs. self-chosen interactive/virtual reality (IVR) exercise on affect response following, as well as during, exercise. Our sample included 131 university students who were assigned to one of three 10-min conditions: (a) self-selected interactive/virtual reality (IVR) exercise, (b) externally imposed IVR exercise, or (c) regular exercise. Exercise intensity was standardized in terms of metabolic benchmarks. Mood benefits were observed pre-to-post exercise regardless of condition. During exercise, however, higher pleasure ratings were reported by participants in the self-selected IVR exercise condition. The implications of the immediate mood effects of self-selected IVR exercise are discussed.     

Personality effects and sex differences on the International Affective Picture System (IAPS): A Spanish and Swiss study

The present study analyses the relationship between Anxiety and Impulsivity personality factors and emotions, by controlling for country and sex effects in a sample of Spanish and Swiss university students. Emotions were assessed through the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) of pictures (valence/arousal) using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) procedure. The mixed valence/arousal groups’ pictures were formed according to Tok, Koyuncu, Dural and Catikkas procedure (2010). Results showed that females scored significantly higher in Anxiety factor and men in Impulsivity factor in both countries. The effect of sex was highly significant for Anxiety (ŋ²: 0.12), but there was no significant effect of the country. Also, females obtained higher scores in the four valence/arousal pictures groups. The sex effect was particularly robust for negative valence–high arousal (ŋ²: 0.13). Impulsivity correlated with high ratings of positive valence–high arousal while Anxiety correlated with high ratings of negative valence–high arousal and with high ratings of negative valence–low arousal in both sexes, although scores were higher for females. Structural Equation Modelling confirmed these relationships. Nevertheless, Anxiety and Impulsivity explained only a small amount of the accounted variance of the self-reported valence and arousal of the pictures.     

Psychometric Properties of the Book Readings for An Affective Classroom Education (BRACE) Coding System

Abstract

In the present study, the relation between children’s emotion knowledge and preschool teachers’ book reading behaviors during shared book reading in the classroom was examined. A new coding system, the Book Readings for an Affective Classroom Education (BRACE), was developed to capture teachers’ macro-level book reading behaviors (i.e., dialogic reading) and micro-level use of emotion language (i.e., emotion coaching) during shared book reading. Results showed good reliability and validity of the BRACE. Further, teachers’ dialogic reading and emotion coaching behaviors during shared book reading positively predicted child emotion knowledge in Spring (T2), after controlling for children’s initial level of emotion knowledge in Fall (T1). In addition, a significant interaction between teachers’ book reading style and child emotion knowledge at T1 on emotion knowledge at T2 indicated that teachers’ effective book reading style was especially beneficial to children who had lower emotion knowledge at the beginning of the school year.     

Common and distinctive features in stimulus similarity: A modified version of the contrast model

Featural representations of similarity data assume that people represent stimuli in terms of a set of discrete properties. In this article, we consider the differences in featural representations that arise from making four different assumptions about how similarity is measured. Three of these similarity models— the common features model, the distinctive features model, and Tversky’s seminal contrast model—have been considered previously. The other model is new and modifies the contrast model by assuming that each individual feature only ever acts as a common or distinctive feature. Each of the four models is tested on previously examined similarity data, relating to kinship terms, and on a new data set, relating to faces. In fitting the models, we have used the geometric complexity criterion to balance the competing demands of data-fit and model complexity. The results show that both common and distinctive features are important for stimulus representation, and we argue that the modified contrast model combines these two components in a more effective and interpretable way than Tversky’s original formulation.     

Effect of an auditory stimulus on the processing of a visual stimulus under single- and dual-tasks conditions

The Sternberg Additive Factor Method was used to draw inferences about the flow of information under single- and dual-tasks conditions which were identical in terms of the stimuli involved but different in terms of response requirements. In both conditions, subjects pressed a left- or right-hand key in response to the onset of an X or O (intact or degraded) which was accompanied by a monaural or binaural tone. In the dual-tasks condition, subjects responded verbally to the tone location while also making the key-press response, whereas, in the single-task condition, no response to the tone was required. The pattern of main effects and interactions suggested that the same model of information flow described both single- and dual-tasks conditions; i.e., visual and auditory stimuli were encoded separately but shared capacity at the response selection stage.     

An apparent new instance of stimulus intensity dynamism during discrimination of duration of repeating auditory stimuli

Rats were trained on a VI/EXT discrimination using barpressing in a Skinner box for food reinforcement. The discriminanda consisted of different proportions of noise to silence within a fixed 3^-s noise-plus-silence repeating cycle. These stimuli were easily discriminated by human subjects, but the rats formed the discrimination only poorly and after considerable training. Analysis of response rates during noise and silence separately within the 3^-s noise-plus-silence cycle showed higher response rates during noise, irrespective of whether this was during the positive or during the negative stimulus, or whether relatively long duration of noise or relatively short duration of noise (within the 3^-s cycle) constituted the positive stimulus. These results are seen as providing an instance of the dynamogenic effects of stimulus intensity on response vigour to which the Perkins-Logan generalization of inhibition hypothesis of stimulus intensity dynamism cannot apply.     

Antecedent reinforcement contingencies in the stimulus control of an auditory discrimination

In order to assess possible confounding of discriminative stimulus effects with those produced by the reinforcing stimulus, three groups of four rats each were trained for 45 hr on a variable-interval 1-min reinforcement program. Two groups were run on a multiple variable-interval extinction schedule in which the reinforcement stimulus (S^D) and the nonreinforcement stimulus (S^Δ) were two intensities of a 4-kHz (cps) tone separated by 40 or 10 db. The third group was run on a mixed schedule with a single intensity constantly present. The mixed-schedule animals showed no discrimination of the reinforcement program. Under the multiple schedule, the highest S^Δ rates were obtained after S^D intervals, regardless of the reinforcement availability in the S^D interval. These local rate variations in S^Δ were small in proportion to those produced by the S^D versus S^Δ intensities.     

The Nencki Affective Picture System (NAPS): Introduction to a novel,standardized, wide-range,high-quality,realistic picture database

Selecting appropriate stimuli to induce emotional states is essential in affective research. Only a few standardized affective stimulus databases have been created for auditory, language, and visual materials. Numerous studies have extensively employed these databases using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. However, some limitations of the existing databases have recently been reported, including limited numbers of stimuli in specific categories or poor picture quality of the visual stimuli. In the present article, we introduce the Nencki Affective Picture System (NAPS), which consists of 1,356 realistic, high-quality photographs that are divided into five categories (people, faces, animals, objects, and landscapes). Affective ratings were collected from 204 mostly European participants. The pictures were rated according to the valence, arousal, and approach–avoidance dimensions using computerized bipolar semantic slider scales. Normative ratings for the categories are presented for each dimension. Validation of the ratings was obtained by comparing them to ratings generated using the Self-Assessment Manikin and the International Affective Picture System. In addition, the physical properties of the photographs are reported, including luminance, contrast, and entropy. The new database, with accompanying ratings and image parameters, allows researchers to select a variety of visual stimulus materials specific to their experimental questions of interest. The NAPS system is freely accessible to the scientific community for noncommercial use by request at http://naps.nencki.gov.pl.