Appraisal of Familiarity with Content: Its Relationship with Dimensions of Emotional Experience

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the dimensions of the emotional experience (valence and arousal), the quality of emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust), and the appraisal of familiarity with content. Ninety-two participants assessed how familiar the content of the 40 photographs were to them. The photographs were selected from the NAPS database and systematically varied along the dimensions and qualities of the emotional experience. Statistically significant correlations were obtained between the appraisal of familiarity and the dimensions of the emotional experience. The correlation of familiarity appraisal with arousal was negative, unlike findings from earlier studies. Significant positive correlation with happiness and negative correlations with sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust were also found.