Perceptual latencies of object recognition and affect measured with the rotating spot method: Chronometric evidence for semantic primacy

According to the semantic primacy hypothesis of emotion generation, stimuli must be semantically categorized to evoke emotions. This hypothesis was tested in two chronometric studies, using the rotating spot method of timing subjective events. Participants saw pleasant and unpleasant pictures while a spot rotated around the edge of the picture. In different blocks of trials, they indicated when they experienced the pleasant or unpleasant feeling evoked by the pictures, or recognized the depicted objects, by reporting the position of the spot at the time when these mental events occurred. In both experiments, the latency of object recognition was found to be shorter than the latency of affect for nearly all participants and pictures, and the two latencies were positively correlated across participants. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and additionally showed that an experimental manipulation that delayed object recognition, blurring the pictures, also delayed the onset of affect. A mediation analysis suggested that this effect was at least partly mediated by the delayed recognition of the objects. The findings support the semantic primacy hypothesis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).