The emotional movie database (EMDB): an expanded toolkit for emotion research

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-026-10220-x.
Emotion-eliciting film clips are widely used in psychological, neuroscientific, and affective computing research as stan-dardized stimuli for the study of emotional responses. The Emotional Movie Database (EMDB) was originally developedto provide silent film clips for emotion research; however, limitations in stimulus diversity motivated its expansion. Thepresent study extends the EMDB by introducing four additional emotional categories—social exclusion, social inclusion,unpleasant landscapes, and extreme sports—together with an expanded set of neutral film clips. Two complementary vali-dation experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 (laboratory-based; n = 117) assessed social exclusion, social inclusion,unpleasant landscapes, and extreme sports clips, whereas Experiment 2 (web-based; n = 128) evaluated social exclusion,social inclusion, and newly recorded neutral clips. Participants rated each clip on valence, arousal, and dominance usingthe Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) and reported the discrete emotions experienced. The results provide descriptivenormative data for the newly added categories. Social exclusion clips were associated with negative valence (M = 2.16,SD = 1.07) and moderate-to-high arousal (M = 5.97, SD = 2.06), whereas social inclusion clips showed positive valence(M = 7.17, SD = 0.92) and moderate arousal (M = 4.68, SD = 1.72). Unpleasant landscape clips were rated as negativelyvalenced (M = 2.77, SD = 0.99) with relatively low arousal (M = 4.53, SD = 2.01). Extreme sports clips showed positivevalence (M = 6.25, SD = 1.12) and intermediate arousal (M = 5.34, SD = 1.95). Newly recorded neutral clips consistentlyelicited near-neutral valence (M = 5.11, SD = 0.42) and low arousal (M = 2.31, SD = 1.36), supporting their use as baselinecontrol stimuli. This work provides initial validation evidence and descriptive norms for an expanded set of EMDB filmclips, broadening the affective space covered by the database and supporting its use in experimental research on emotionacross laboratory-based and online settings.
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia: https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/01662/2025