Affective norms for texts in Rioplatense Spanish (ANET-RS): Adaptation and cross-cultural variations in emotional...

Emotions and language are central in psycholinguistics, as emotional states shape the processing of verbal information, whether it is single words or entire texts. Valid tools for controlled experiments are essential, but most existing resources focus on isolated words, limiting the exploration of more complex comprehension processes. In this regard, the Affective Norms for English Texts (ANET) provides a corpus of standardized texts in English for inducing emotions in laboratory settings, covering the dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. Until now, there was no adapted version in Argentina for Rioplatense Spanish, which prompted the present study. We present the normative data for the ANET in Rioplatense Spanish (ANET-RS), examining the impact of emotional explicitness and comparing scores based on gender, age, and nationality. A total of 208 Argentine adults (18-60 years old) participated, divided into two sets (Set A and Set B), which differ in length and level of explicitness. Reliability analyses showed satisfactory indices across all dimensions. The score distribution followed the classic "boomerang" shape, indicating higher arousal for both positive and negative valence texts. The results confirm that emotional explicitness enhances arousal responses, whereas age and gender exert predictable but moderate influences. In conclusion, this adaptation of the ANET expands methodological options in psycholinguistics and facilitates cross-cultural studies on the interplay between emotions and language. It also underscores the importance of emotional explicitness when eliciting affective states.