Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the relationships between visual and auditory modalities in appraisals of and emotional responses to audio-visual stimuli under conditions in which visual and auditory stimuli were either congruent or incongruent. The participants included 37 undergraduate and graduate students who viewed 4 audio-visual stimuli. The audio-visual stimuli comprised a combination of visual stimuli and auditory stimuli. The visual stimuli in the present study were excerpts of motion pictures, and the auditory stimuli were excerpts of classical music. Affective valences of used stimuli were operated in valence dimension, and all stimuli were controlled in high arousal tone. Participants' appraisals of and emotional responses to audio-visual stimuli were measured. Our findings were as follows. In appraisals of and emotional responses to audio-visual stimuli: 1) high valence moving pictures elicited more positive responses than low ones; 2) high valence music pieces elicited more positive responses than low ones; 3) the effects of music were significant when the visual stimuli were high valence. The sequence of processes by which emotional responses are formed was discussed from the viewpoint of relationships between visual and auditory modalities.
