Effects of Emotion-Induction Words on Memory and Pupillary Reactions While Viewing Visual Stimuli with Audio Guide

This study aimed to examine the possibility of using emotion-induction words in audio guides for education via visual content. This was performed based on the findings of a previous study that focused on the provision timings of visual and auditory information [6]. Thirty emotion-induction words were extracted from the database and categorized into positive, negative, and neutral words, and three experiments were performed. The first experiment was conducted to confirm the reliability of emotional values. The results revealed a strong consistency between the values in the database and the ratings given by the participants. The second experiment assessed whether consistency was maintained if the words appeared in the sentences. The results confirmed that a certain degree of consistency was maintained, as expected, but showed larger individual differences compared with the first experiment. The third experiment was conducted to probe the effect of emotion-induction words used in the audio guide to explain the visual content of memory. Our results revealed that participants who were exposed to positive and negative emotion-induction words remembered the content better than those who were presented with neutral words. Per the three experiments, the emotion value of the neutral words was found to be sensitive to the context in which they were embedded, which was confirmed by observing the changes in pupillary reactions. Suggestions for designing audio and visual content using emotion-induction words for better memory are provided.