Validating the Goettingen Faces Database

The current study aimed at validating whether the face stimuli of the Goettingen Faces Database (GFD) are perceived as emotionally neutral. Two-hundred-eighty neutral GFD stimuli were presented together with face stimuli depicting emotional expressions, selected from other databases. The valence of each picture was rated by N=50 participants on a scale from -3 (negative) to 3 (positive). Findings show that the median rating of each GFD image was zero (exactly neutral) with 88% of mean ratings lying between -0.5 and 0.5. The findings provide a selection tool for stimuli for future research based on valence perception, with the majority of stimuli being perceived as neutral and therefore suitable as neutral stimuli for future research on face perception.

Author's version postprint available at https://www.academia.edu/36849973/Validating_the_Goettingen_Faces_Database_GFD_