The Chieti Affective Action Videos database, a resource for the study of emotions in psychology

Abstract

The Chieti Affective Action Videos (CAAV) is a new database designed for the experimental study of emotions in psychology. The main goal of the CAAV is to provide a wide range of standardized stimuli based on two emotional dimensions: valence and arousal. The CAAV is the first database to present emotional stimuli through videos of actions filmed and developed specifically for experimental research. 444 young adults were recruited to evaluate this database, which consisted of a sub-set of 90 actions filmed in four versions, for a total of 360 videos. The four versions differ based on the gender of the main actor (male or female) and in the perspective in which each action was shot (first-person or third-person). CAAV validation procedure highlighted a distribution of different stimuli based on valence and arousal indexes. The material provided by CAAV can be used in future experimental studies investigating the role of emotions, perception, attention, and memory in addition to the study of differences between gender and perspective taking.