How do we process the affective information contained in an object: Is an object's affective evaluation bound to that object, or does the affective information in the object bias responses to all items in the immediate environment? In other words, can the representation of an object ( or object file) also store affective information? To date, the question of whether object files can store affective information has not yet been directly addressed, and the purpose of this thesis was to answer that question. In order to achieve this, I utilised two different paradigms: In Experiments 1-7, I integrated an affective
priming paradigm with an object-based component, and employed either an evaluative ratings task or a speeded affective decision task; in Experiments 8 and 9 I investigated emotional repetition blindness for items that were different, but shared the same emotional valence. If affective information can be stored in an object file then I would expect object-specific affective priming effects, and I would expect to find repetition blindness for items that were different, but shared the same emotional valence. Consistent with these hypotheses, I found evidence of object-specific affective priming in Experiments 3, 6, and 7; and both Experiment 8 and 9, showed evidence of emotional repetition blindness. The results of these experiments provide evidence to support the view that affective information can be bound to an object file. Furthermore, the results of
Experiments 1, 2, 4, and 5 demonstrate how the binding of affective information to an object file can be disrupted. Taken together, these results demonstrate that affective information can be stored in an object file.