THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE INTERNATIONAL AFFECTIVE PICTURE SYSTEM: RATINGS FROM A SAMPLE OF LITHUANIAN STUDENTS.

International Affective Picture System (IAPS) is a database of photographs, which is used for studying human emotions, cognition, behavior and other areas. Although IAPS is considered suitable for using in different countries, there are some cross-cultural differences. Purpose. The aim of the present study was to determine the valence, arousal and dominance ratings of IAPS pictures in the sample of Lithuanian students and compare them with original United States (US) norms. Methods and Results. 103 Lithuania's psychology students rated valence, arousal and dominance of 59 images from IAPS system. The results showed a high correlation between ratings of Lithuanian and US samples of all three dimensions. However, there were significant differences in the mean ratings of emotional valence and arousal - Lithuanian participants' ratings were closer to neutral value. Moreover, some gender differences were found. Our study showed that men are more aroused by pleasant pictures compared to women, whereas an opposite tendency was observed with unpleasant pictures - women are more aroused by such images compared to men. Conclusions. The study findings suggested that IAPS can be reliably used as stimuli for studies of emotion in Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]