Abstract
We explored the context effect with respect to perceived congruence between music and images in audiovisual stimuli. We conducted rating experiments using music and images with cheerful or gloomy affective impressions. When the affective impressions of the music and images in two successively presented audiovisual scenes were similar and consistent, the perceived congruence of one of the audiovisual scenes was higher when it was presented as the second part of the stimulus than when it was presented first. The perceived congruence between music and images with opposite affective impressions was low, and this perceived incongruence decreased when the incongruent audiovisual combination was presented as the second part of the stimulus. Interestingly, when the affective impressions produced by music and images were consistent in two successive scenes, the perceived incongruence was especially low. Furthermore, when the affective impressions produced by music and images shown first were opposite, the perceived congruence of a subsequent audiovisual combination with the similar affective impressions decreased. The perceived incongruence of opposite audiovisual impressions decreased when the incongruent audiovisual combination was presented after congruent audiovisual combinations. These tendencies were caused by the context effect in audiovisual stimuli.
