Experiment Plan

The Big Picture

1. Target population (test subjects): young adults, primarily university students i.e. your friends & peers
2. Task(s):
   • Emotion elicitation
   • Data collection
   • Participant self-assessment
3. Independent variable(s): emotion elicitation materials, specifically emotionally charged film clips (preselected & randomly played to avoid experimenter bias)
4. Dependent variable(s): emotions elicited
5. Measure(s): EEG, physiological responses, camera for cross-checking
6. Control: minimal other source of emotion elicitation, same experiment environment
7. Blocks & trials:
   • 1 participant = 1 block
   • 1 block = 1 break + 4 trials (2 baseline trials and 2 actual trials)
   • break = 2min
   • baseline trial = 30s
   • actual trial ~ 2min

Emotion-Eliciting Film Database:

1. Edit film clips
2. Pre-experiment label for each film clip: match labels with DEAP dataset
3. Base on the film database (Rottenberg, Ray, Gross, 2007), removing “disgust” + removing inappropriate + removing too long/ too short + adding more positive clips + mapping discrete emotions to valence/arousal space
   • Some films used: “IT Crowd”, "High School Musical", "Tree of Life", "The Shining", "The Champ", "My Bodyguard", "Cry Freedom", "Silence of the Lambs", "The Greatest Showman"

Interface Design

Trial 0-1:

1. Participant clicks “start”
2. Baseline clip 0-1 is played: hold constant for all participants
3. Self-assessment manikins appear on the screen
4. Participant selects the manikin that best matches their emotion

Trial 1:

1. Participant clicks “start”
2. Automatically select one random clips from Clip 1 to Clip 16 à ensure double-blind experiment
3. Measurement starts when the film clip starts playing
4. Measurement stops when the film clip stops playing
5. Self-assessment manikins appear on the screen
6. Participant selects the manikin that best matches their emotion
7. Participant fills up post-film questionnaire

2min break

Instructions appear on the screen: “Let’s have a break. You may drink the plain water on the table. Please close your eyes to rest.” This is to reduce carry-over effect & reduce fatigue

Trial 0-2:

1. Baseline clip 0-2 is played à hold constant for all participants
2. Self-assessment manikins appear on the screen
3. Participant selects the manikin that best matches their emotion

Trial 2:

1. Participant clicks “start”
2. Automatically select one random clips from Clip 1 to Clip 16 à ensure double-blind experiment
3. Measurement starts when the film clip starts playing
4. Measurement stops when the film clip stops playing
5. Self-assessment manikins appear on the screen
6. Participant selects the manikin that best matches their emotion
7. Participant fills up post-film questionnaire

Experiment trials for current participant ends

Instructions for the Experimenter