The processing of emotional audio-visual stimuli

Abstract

In a natural environment humans constantly receive a multitude of different signals and more often than not these signals engage multiple senses at the same time. These signals make it possible to understand and interact with our environment. In order to express ourselves and communicate with others we use facial expressions and different tone of voice. Correctly and swiftly identifying these signals is an important aspect of interaction. Due to the combination of both auditory and visual cues used during interaction it is not only important to investigate the processing of these signals separately, but the interaction of the processing of these signals as well. A number of studies have investigated the difference between the processing of uni- and multimodal emotional and non-emotional stimuli. A number of models have been suggested to investigate interaction between multimodal stimuli. Here the results found in regards to the interaction of emotional and non-emotional audio-visual stimuli on several different levels such as behavior and brain activity will be discussed, as well as evidence supporting different models pertaining this interaction. In conclusion it is found that both emotional and non-emotional audio-visual stimuli show interaction during sensory processing. Moreover the processing of emotional bimodal seems to depend in part on the emotion.