Why do we watch and like horror films? Despite a century of horror film making and
entertainment, little research has examined the human motivation to watch fictional horror …

The positive-negative axis of emotional valence has long been recognized as fundamental
to adaptive behavior, but its origin and underlying function have largely eluded formal …

We hope this chapter will provide an overview on current theoretical approaches to emotion
and its measurement, without neglecting their historical roots. Simultaneously, our goal is to …

Human face perception is modulated by both emotional valence and social relevance, but
their interaction has rarely been examined. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) to happy …

Environmental conditions bias our perception of other peoples' facial emotions. This
becomes quite relevant in potentially threatening situations, when a fellow's facial …

Potential threat can prime defensive responding and avoidance behavior, which may result
in the loss of rewards. When aversive consequences do not occur, avoidance should, thus …

Predictability is an important characteristic of threat that impacts defensive motivation and
attentional engagement. Supporting research has primarily focused on actual threat (eg …

This study systematically investigated the sensitivity of the phobic attention system by
measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) in spider-phobic and non-phobic volunteers in a …

A strong link between body perception and emotional experience has been proposed. To
examine the interaction between body perception and anticipatory anxiety, two well …

Anxiety can boost the detection of potential threats in many ways. There is evidence that one
and the same facial expression can be perceived differently depending on whether it is seen …