Effects of Emotional Valence (Positive or Negative Visual Images) and Arousal Levels (High or Low Arousal Levels) on the Useful Field of View

Abstract

One of two emotional valence (positive or negative) images and two arousal (high or low) images was presented for 500 ms to participants. After the image vanished from the screen, a letter was presented in the central visual field, while a number was also presented in one of the peripheral visual fields (upper right, upper left, bottom right, and bottom left). There were four conditions of degree of eccentricity of the presented number. The participants identified both the letter and number simultaneously. By calculating the correct performance rate of the peripheral identification task, the range of the useful field of view (UFOV) was speculated. Results showed that performance rates of the central and peripheral tasks were worse for the high arousal, negative emotion stimuli compared with the other three conditions. Moreover, performance rates of the peripheral task were better for the positive emotion conditions than those for the negative emotion conditions when the stimulus eccentricities were 3 or 12 degrees. We concluded that the range of the UFOV could be affected by the interaction between the emotional valence and arousal level of visual stimuli. This study was the first report that emotional valence and arousal level interacted each other and did affect our human visual cognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)