Is a (Threatening) Picture (of an Animate Stimulus) Worth a Thousand Words? Evidence for the Animacy Effect Using Photographic Stimuli

Participants studied photographic stimuli of threatening and nonthreatening animate and inanimate objects. Recognition results indicated better memory for animate compared to inanimate stimuli and for threatening compared to nonthreatening stimuli. The results provide evidence for the animacy effect and that the effect does not depend on threat status of stimuli.