Mexican validation of the International Affective Digitized Sounds second edition (IADS-2) and additional sounds

Abstract

Affective stimuli have been extensively used in emotion research for a better understanding of emotion regulation. Sound ratings, specifically non-verbal sounds, are biased by demographic indicators such as sex and nationality. Therefore, it is crucial to characterize sounds prior to their use in emotion research. This study aims to validate the IADS-2 database and additional sounds in a sample from the Mexican population. Three hundred twenty-nine participants born and raised in Mexico remotely listened to 174 sounds in monophonic format. They rated sounds according to the valence-arousal-dominance model using the Self-Assessment Manikin test. Results positively correlated to those of previous studies. Sex differences were observed only in dominance between female and male groups, contrary to the results from Portuguese, American and Japanese validations. Geographic region analysis demonstrated differences in arousal, indicating the need for additional research on occident and south regions. Furthermore, when conducting affective research, headphones and audio quality should be considered, primarily to reduce variability due to audio-related aspects, and to avoid changes in emotional experience. Finally, this study supports the feasibility of remote affective sound experiments over the internet as reported in previous research.