Curb Your Enthusiasm had the lowest ISC score (18%), but viewers still reported that they were quite engaged. With further study, the team found that a low ISC does not indicate a lack of interest in a particular film. Brain activity variation across viewers (low ISC) could be caused by a less engaged processing of information such as from a wandering mind or from a highly engaged audience who respond in a variety of ways when processing a movie sequence. “These results could provide neuroscientific confirmation of Hitchcock’s infamous ability to master and manipulate viewers’ minds,” said Hasson.Īccording to Hasson, it is important to distinguish between the level of processing devoted to analyzing incoming stimuli and a movie’s effect on viewers. The Hitchcock episode significantly evoked the highest amount of ISC similarity, with 65% correlation across all participants. Participants watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Horror/Thriller), The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly (Western), and Curb Your Enthusiasm(Comedy). In 2008, Hasson furthered his research by performing identical fMRI scans with different entertainment genres. ISC was considerably smaller when viewing the unstructured segment of reality. For comparison, they next created a short unedited ten-minute film of Washington Square Park in New York City showing the richness and complexity of life, but containing no plot. To insure that this significant correlation was due to the film structure, the team next measured ISC in the dark, using only short segments of the film, and again noticed correlated brain activity between participants. Activity across all participants increased and decreased following a similar time course as the plot unravelled. This included regions associated with emotion such as the amygdala, visual areas in the occipital and temporal lobes, and auditory regions in Heschl’s gyrus. Surprisingly, despite the uncontrolled free viewing of the task and complex narrative, activity was similar across all viewers’ brains. “One way to think about it is that I’m measuring if your brain responses are similar to mine within a particular context,” explained Hasson. Film provides a balance as a director can control variables through choosing what you see, feel, and think, but they also have complex story arcs and themes for your brain to interpret.”įor Hasson’s initial study published in Science (1), his team performed functional MRI (fMRI) scans on volunteers while they watched the classic spaghetti Western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. They analysed their data using the inter-subject correlation (ISC) method, where brain activity from participants enables modeling of other participants’ brain activity. “With this, you lose the complexity that comes with the everyday situations you are trying to study. “Many neuroimaging studies involve controlled experiments, with few variables,” said Hasson. Horror films are renowned for captivating audiences’ attention, but how does our brain process these thrillers? Professor of psychology and neuroscience Uri Hasson from Princeton University founded the field of “neurocinematics” in 2004 when he used pioneering neuroimaging techniques to investigate how some movie genres such as horror and action keep us gripped from lights down to credits rolling. But what fright night would be complete without a movie marathon that leaves you clutching your seat? On October 31st, those with a penchant for all things eerie will engage in Halloween activities such as carving jack-o-lanterns or trick-or-treating. What is the horror movies effect on the brain?ĭifferent genres evoke different reactions in the brain (2). Hitchcock and Kubrick grip us in scenes and sounds of horror.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |