The Autonomy of Affect

Abstract

Just images, no words, very simple. It was a story depicted in a short shown on German TV as a fill-in between programs. The film drew complaints from parents reporting that their children had been frightened. That drew the attention of a team of researchers. Their study was notable for failing to find much of what it was studying: cognition. Researchers, headed by Hertha Sturm, used three versions of the film: the original wordless version and two versions with voiceovers added. The first voice-over version was dubbed factual. It added a simple step-by-step account of the action as it happened. A second version was called emotional. It was largely the same as the factual version, but included at crucial turning points words expressing the emotional tenor of the scene under way.