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Affective reactions to briefly presented pictures
Author(s) -
Codispoti Maurizio,
Bradley Margaret M.,
Lang Peter J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/1469-8986.3830474
Subject(s) - psychology , skin conductance , stimulus (psychology) , moro reflex , sensory system , orienting response , reflex , audiology , heart rate , psychophysiology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , habituation , medicine , blood pressure , biomedical engineering , radiology
Affective reactions to briefly presented pictures were investigated to determine whether fleeting stimuli engage the motivational systems mediating emotional responses. Emotional and neutral pictures were presented for 500 ms; heart rate, skin conductance, corrugator EMG, and the evoked startle reflex were measured. The time course of reflex modulation was similar to that obtained with longer (6 s) presentations, suggesting that picture processing continues in the absence of a sensory stimulus. Affective reactions found with more sustained presentation were also obtained, with more corrugator EMG activity for unpleasant pictures, and greater skin conductance reactivity for emotional pictures. Heart rate modulation, however, appears to rely on the presence of a sensory stimulus. The data also suggest that brief presentations of unpleasant pictures may result in less defensive activation than sustained presentation.