title: The pupil's response to affective pictures: Role of image duration, habituation, and viewing mode.
abstract: The pupil has been shown to be sensitive to the emotional content of stimuli. We examined this phenomenon by comparing fearful and neutral images carefully matched in the domains of luminance, image contrast, image color, and complexity of content. The pupil was more dilated after viewing affective pictures, and this effect was (a) shown to be independent of the presentation time of the images (from 100-3,000 ms), (b) not diminished by repeated presentations of the images, and (c) not affected by actively naming the emotion of the stimuli in comparison to passive viewing. Our results show that the emotional modulation of the pupil is present over a range of variables that typically vary from study to study (image duration, number of trials, free viewing vs. task), and encourages the use of pupillometry as a measure of emotional processing in populations where alternative techniques may not be appropriate.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Snowden
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Katherine R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: O'Farrell
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Burley
authors.affiliation: School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Erichsen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: Naomi V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
authors.forename: Nicola S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Gray
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011680:Pupil / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Affect; Attention; Emotion; Habituation; Pupil dilation