ABSTRACT
How do we measure emotions triggered by audiovisual media? This question has challenged researchers for more than 100 years. Measuring and classifying emotional responses is required to potentially predict human emotions. The following study uses a common tablet computer combined with specially designed software in order to compare the perceived emotions of the viewers. The participants watched two short films which were exclusively designed in order to assign their perceived emotions to a certain spot in the video timeline. 240 participants gave feedback via a tablet computer equipped with the emoTouch application. To prevent habituation, each participant watched one of the two videos provided with one of the following four different audio tracks only once: music, sound effects, full sound design (music and sound effects) and no audio (as the comparative “null” version). By moving a marker on the (identical) tablet computer’s screen in a two-dimensional rating scale of perceived immersion and perceived suspense from ?1 to +1, the participants “recorded” their perceived emotions. The resulting values, after completing a three-factor ANOVA, showed significant increases of the median and maximum values of immersion and suspense regarding the perceived emotions of the participants, while listening to an audio track with full sound design (as one of four cases).
