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The Emotional Movie Database (EMDB): A Self-Report and Psychophysiological Study

Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Film clips are an important tool for evoking emotional responses in the laboratory. When compared with other emotionally potent visual stimuli (e.g., pictures), film clips seem to be more effective in eliciting emotions for longer periods of time at both the subjective and physiological levels. The main objective of the present study was to develop a new database of affective film clips without auditory content, based on a dimensional approach to emotional stimuli (valence, arousal and dominance). The study had three different phases: (1) the pre-selection and editing of 52 film clips (2) the self-report rating of these film clips by a sample of 113 participants and (3) psychophysiological assessment [skin conductance level (SCL) and the heart rate (HR)] on 32 volunteers. Film clips from different categories were selected to elicit emotional states from different quadrants of affective space. The results also showed that sustained exposure to the affective film clips resulted in a pattern of a SCL increase and HR deceleration in high arousal conditions (i.e., horror and erotic conditions). The resulting emotional movie database can reliably be used in research requiring the presentation of non-auditory film clips with different ratings of valence, arousal and dominance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology with individual grants (SFRH/BD/41484/2007 and SFRH/BD/64355/2009). The author’s wish to thank Dr. Christine Hovanitz and two anonymous reviewers for their contributions in improving this article.

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The authors do not have any conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, to disclose.

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Correspondence to Óscar F. Gonçalves.

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Sandra Carvalho and Jorge Leite contributed equally for the content of this article.

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Carvalho, S., Leite, J., Galdo-Álvarez, S. et al. The Emotional Movie Database (EMDB): A Self-Report and Psychophysiological Study. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 37, 279–294 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-012-9201-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-012-9201-6

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