Fig. (4) Valence and arousal ratings dynamically changed through out the movie. Here, the arousal (blue) and valence (red) mean (thicker lines) ± SEM values (thinner lines around the thicker lines) are plotted on a timeline, and the part of the movie eliciting highest arousal is depicted above. This particular part of the movie contains a scene in which a man seeking revenge based on a misunderstanding is pointing a gun at the father of a small girl, the girl then runs out of their house to protect her father, her mother is scared about the situation, and the man shoots accidentally at the girl. It then turns out that the gun is loaded with blanks, and the situation is resolved as the father of the girl wonders why there is no wound. Importantly, even though not explicitly tested here, it is possible that if this one minute clip was played in isolation, it would not elicit as strong arousal / valence changes, since the experimental subjects would not be engaged to follow the plot of the movie. Note that the arousal is significantly elevated already in the beginning of the fMRI scanning session. (Movie stills courtesy of Lions Gate Films, 2005.)