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Affective Overload: The Effect of Emotive Visual Stimuli on Target Vocabulary Retrieval

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Abstract

There has been considerable interest in cognitive load in recent years, but the effect of affective load and its relationship to mental functioning has not received as much attention. In order to investigate the effects of affective stimuli on cognitive function as manifest in the ability to remember foreign language vocabulary, two groups of student volunteers (\(\hbox {N} = 64\)) aged from 17 to 25 years were shown a Powerpoint presentation of 21 target language words with a picture, audio, and written form for every word. The vocabulary was presented in comfortable rooms with padded chairs and the participants were provided with snacks so that they would be comfortable and relaxed. After the Powerpoint they were exposed to two forms of visual stimuli for 27 min. The different formats contained either visually affective content (sexually suggestive, violent or frightening material) or neutral content (a nature documentary). The group which was exposed to the emotive visual stimuli remembered significantly fewer words than the group which watched the emotively neutral nature documentary. Implications of this finding are discussed and suggestions made for ongoing research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Foreign Language Education, Faculty of Education, Fatih University, 34500, Buyukcekmece, Istanbul, Turkey

    Yakup Çetin & Carol Griffiths

  2. Educational Sciences and Programs, Faculty of Education, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Zeynep Ebrar Yetkiner Özel

  3. Computer Science and Technology, Faculty of Education, Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Hüseyin Kinay

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  1. Yakup Çetin
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  2. Carol Griffiths
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  3. Zeynep Ebrar Yetkiner Özel
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  4. Hüseyin Kinay
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Correspondence to Yakup Çetin.

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Çetin, Y., Griffiths, C., Özel, Z.E.Y. et al. Affective Overload: The Effect of Emotive Visual Stimuli on Target Vocabulary Retrieval. J Psycholinguist Res 45, 275–285 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-014-9344-0

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