Table 2.
Stimuli ratings and characteristics
| Other |
Self |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant | Neutral | Unpleasant | Pleasant | Neutral | Unpleasant | |
| Cloze probability | 3% (9%) | 3% (7%) | 3% (9%) | 3% (8%) | 3% (8%) | 3% (7%) |
| Constraint | 22% (13%) | 22% (13%) | 22% (13%) | 22% (12%) | 22% (12%) | 22% (12%) |
| (log) HAL frequencya | 8.39 (2.04) | 8.47 (1.89) | 8.28 (1.72) | — | — | — |
| Number of letters | 7.67 (2.38) | 7.48 (2.20) | 7.14 (2.47) | — | — | — |
| Concreteness | 3.45 (0.85) | 3.72 (0.92) | 3.54 (0.84) | — | — | — |
| Valence (word) | 5.69 (0.55) | 4.32 (0.56) | 2.34 (0.57) | — | — | — |
| Arousal (word) | 4.48 (0.80) | 3.38 (0.64) | 3.80 (0.63) | — | — | — |
| Valence (scenario) | 5.25 (0.48) | 4.12 (0.51) | 2.37 (0.48) | 5.40 (0.52) | 4.17 (0.55) | 2.24 (0.53) |
| Arousal (scenario) | 3.61 (0.77) | 3.22 (0.66) | 3.84 (0.74) | 3.87 (0.79) | 3.49 (0.75) | 4.11 (0.75) |
Notes: Means are shown with standard deviations in parentheses. Cloze probability and constraint are represented as the percentage of total responses from 29 subjects. Concreteness, valence and arousal were all rated on seven-point scales from least concrete (most abstract), very unpleasant and least arousing, to most concrete, very pleasant and most arousing, respectively. ‘—’ indicates that the values were the same in the self conditions as in the other conditions as the identical critical words were used, except for in six scenarios in which the verb was conjugated differently.
aSome words did not exist in the HAL database and these were represented as null values in our calculations.