Do different media modalities elicit comparable affective processing? Or do we find evidences for a dependency of the dynamics of the processes involved across different media modalities? Are the same brain regions active in affective processing across the different modalities?

In three parallel sub-projects we will focus on the question of whether there are differences in the processing of affective information depending on the modality of the stimulus material. In a first sub-project we examine the differences in the temporal (EEG) and neuro-anatomical correlates (fMRI) when participants process affective and non-affective verbal and pictorial representations of concrete objects.

In the second sub-project the research question is further extended to the level of narratives. Herein we examine the neural correlates of processing picture- and audio-stories that trigger affective and cognitive empathy. The study uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure the neural activation in adults and in children aging 4.0 to 9.0 years.

In the third sub-project a special focus was put on the interdisciplinary exchange between film scholars and neuro-scientists. Here we are interested in the question of how affective responses to pathos scenes in films (e.g. ‘love scenes’) are modulated by music. Therefore, we designed an fMRI study that measures the neural correlates of viewing film scenes together with a set of sad and cheerful music that modulate the emotional valence of the scenes.

Publications

Schlochtermeier, L., Kuchinke, L., Jacobs, A.M. (2011). Komplexitätseffekte bei der Verarbeitung emotionaler Wörter und Bilder. TeaP.

Schlochtermeier, L., Kuchinke, L., Urton, K., Jacobs, A.M. (2011). Processing emotional pictures and words. TeaP. Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen. Halle.