The Emotional Experience of People With Intellectual Disability: An Analysis Using the International Affective Pictures System

Abstract

The present study provides information on the emotional experience of people with intellectual disability. To evaluate this emotional experience, we have used the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS). The most important result from this study is that the emotional reaction of people with intellectual disability to affective stimuli is very similar to that of the control groups. The way in which people with intellectual disability express basic affect to emotional stimuli in terms of happy-sad and calm-nervous is very similar to that of the general population. However, there are also some differences in how basic affect is expressed in the affective dimensions that might be relevant to our understanding of the emotional life of people with intellectual disability.