Picture media and emotion: effects of a sustained affective context
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Updated: Nov 3, 2026

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion
Published on: May 4, 2011
M M Bradley1, B N Cuthbert, P J Lang
1NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville 32610-0165, USA.
Abstract:
Pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant pictures were presented in a continuous series, and the effects of repetitive exposure to pictures of the same affective valence were assessed in somatic (corrugator electromyographic [EMG] activity) and visceral (heart rate and skin conductance) systems. Probe stimuli (startle or reaction time probes) were presented to index emotional and attentional concomitants of processing. Affective discrimination was maintained across time in all response systems, and sensitization was found for the corrugator EMG response. Responses to reaction time probes indexed differences in attentional allocation as a function of cognitive and affective variables in this paradigm. Taken together, the data suggest that presentation of a series of affective pictures of similar valence produces emotional reactions that are either maintained or sensitized across the temporal intervals used here but that do not habituate.
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