PICTURE MEDIA AND EMOTION - EFFECTS OF A SUSTAINED AFFECTIVE CONTEXT

Pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant pictures were presented in a continuo us series, and the effects of repetitive exposure to pictures of the s ame affective valence were assessed in somatic (corrugator electromyog raphic [EMG] activity) and visceral (heart rate and skin conductance) systems. Probe stimuli (startle or reaction time probes) were presente d to index emotional and attentional concomitants of processing. affec tive discrimination was maintained across time in all response systems , and sensitization was found for the corrugator EMG response. Respons es to reaction time probes indexed differences in attentional allocati on as a function of cognitive and affective variables in this paradigm . Taken together, the data suggest that presentation of a series of af fective pictures of similar valence produces emotional reactions that are either maintained or sensitized across the temporal intervals used here but that do not habituate.