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On the difference between visual discomfort and unpleasantness.

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Visual discomfort and unpleasantness are distinct emotional responses to images. Discomfort stems from high-contrast, flickering anisotropic patterns, while unpleasantness relates to isotropic patterns and unstructured motion.

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Area of Science:

  • Visual perception
  • Image-induced emotion
  • Affective science

Background:

  • Negative emotional responses like discomfort and unpleasantness can be elicited by visual stimuli.
  • Past research has often confounded these two distinct emotional reactions.
  • Understanding the specific triggers for each response is crucial for image-induced emotion research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To directly compare visual discomfort and unpleasantness.
  • To identify the distinct stimulus properties that elicit each emotional response.
  • To differentiate between visual discomfort and unpleasantness in the context of image perception.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a common set of static and dynamic visual stimuli.
  • Included both natural textures and artificial patterns.
  • Directly compared participant responses to these stimuli to measure discomfort and unpleasantness.

Main Results:

  • Visual discomfort was specifically triggered by anisotropic patterns with high contrast and flicker.
  • Visual unpleasantness was strongly associated with isotropic patterns and unstructured motion.
  • Stimulus properties clearly differentiated the two emotional responses.

Conclusions:

  • Visual discomfort and unpleasantness are qualitatively distinct emotional responses.
  • Anisotropic patterns with high contrast/flicker elicit discomfort.
  • Isotropic patterns and unstructured motion elicit unpleasantness, highlighting the need to study them separately.