title: The ToMenovela - A Photograph-Based Stimulus Set for the Study of Social Cognition with High Ecological Validity.
abstract: We present the ToMenovela, a stimulus set that has been developed to provide a set of normatively rated socio-emotional stimuli showing varying amount of characters in emotionally laden interactions for experimental investigations of (i) cognitive and (ii) affective Theory of Mind (ToM), (iii) emotional reactivity, and (iv) complex emotion judgment with respect to Ekman's basic emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise, Ekman and Friesen, 1975). Stimuli were generated with focus on ecological validity and consist of 190 scenes depicting daily-life situations. Two or more of eight main characters with distinct biographies and personalities are depicted on each scene picture. To obtain an initial evaluation of the stimulus set and to pave the way for future studies in clinical populations, normative data on each stimulus of the set was obtained from a sample of 61 neurologically and psychiatrically healthy participants (31 female, 30 male; mean age 26.74 ± 5.84), including a visual analog scale rating of Ekman's basic emotions (happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, surprise) and free-text descriptions of the content of each scene. The ToMenovela is being developed to provide standardized material of social scenes that are available to researchers in the study of social cognition. It should facilitate experimental control while keeping ecological validity high.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlin, Germany; Humboldt UniversityBerlin, Germany; Leibniz Institute for NeurobiologyMagdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Maike C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Herbort
authors.affiliation: Free University of Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iseev
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for NeurobiologyMagdeburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Philipps University of MarburgMarburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stolz
authors.affiliation: Free University of Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Benedict
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roeser
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute for NeurobiologyMagdeburg, Germany; Otto von Guericke UniversityMagdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Großkopf
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wüstenberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlin, Germany; Humboldt UniversityBerlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hellweg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlin, Germany; Humboldt UniversityBerlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Humboldt University Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Dziobek
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin BerlinBerlin, Germany; Leibniz Institute for NeurobiologyMagdeburg, Germany; Otto von Guericke UniversityMagdeburg, Germany; Center for Behavioral Brain SciencesMagdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Björn H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Schott
keywords: Theory of Mind; ecological validity; emotions; empathy; photographs; social cognition; stimulus set