The Influence of Stimuli Valence and Arousal on Spatio-Temporal Representation of a Route

This study assesses the influence of valence and arousal of element/landmarks along a route on the spatio-temporal representation of the route itself. Participants watched a movie of a virtual route containing landmarks with high arousal and positive (HP) or negative valence (HN), or landmarks with low arousal and positive (LP) or negative valence (LN). Afterwards, they had to (a) imagine walking distances between landmarks, (b) indicate the position of the landmarks along the route, (c) judge the spatial and temporal length of the route, and (d) draw the route. Results showed that the tasks were differentially influenced by the valence and arousal levels. Specifically, participants were more accurate in representing distances between positive, rather than negative, landmarks and in localizing positive high arousing landmarks. Moreover, the high arousing landmarks improved performance at the route drawing task. Finally, participants in the negative and low arousing conditions judged the route as being metrically and temporally longer than participants in positive and high arousing conditions. These results are interpreted in the light of theories about the effects of emotions on memory processes and the “feelings-as-information” theory. In brief, the results support the idea that representations of a route reflect a combination of cognitive and emotional processes.