Authors: Hasson, Uri; Landesman, Ohad; Knappmeyer, Barbara; Vallines, Ignacio; Rubin, Nava; Heeger, David J.

Source: Projections, Volume 2, Number 1, Summer 2008 , pp. 1-26(26)

Publisher: Berghahn Journals

Abstract:

This article describes a new method for assessing the effect of a given film on viewers' brain activity. Brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during free viewing of films, and inter-subject correlation analysis (ISC) was used to assess similarities in the spatiotemporal responses across viewers' brains during movie watching. Our results demonstrate that some films can exert considerable control over brain activity and eye movements. However, this was not the case for all types of motion picture sequences, and the level of control over viewers' brain activity differed as a function of movie content, editing, and directing style. We propose that ISC may be useful to film studies by providing a quantitative neuroscientific assessment of the impact of different styles of filmmaking on viewers' brains, and a valuable method for the film industry to better assess its products. Finally, we suggest that this method brings together two separate and largely unrelated disciplines, cognitive neuroscience and film studies, and may open the way for a new interdisciplinary field of “neurocinematic” studies.

Keywords: FMRI; INTER-SUBJECT CORRELATION; COGNITIVE FILM THEORY; SOCIAL NEUROSCIENCE; COGNITIVE CONTROL

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/proj.2008.020102

Publication date: 2008-06-01

More about this publication?

• WINNER OF THE 2008 AAP/PSP PROSE AWARD FOR BEST NEW JOURNAL IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES!
  
  Projections is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal that explores the ways in which recent advancements in fields such as psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, genetics and evolution help to increase our understanding of film, and how film itself facilitates investigations into the nature and function of the mind. The journal incorporates articles on the visual arts and new technologies related to film. The aims of the journal are to explore these subjects, facilitate a dialogue between people in the sciences and the humanities, and bring the study of film to the forefront of contemporary intellectual debate.
  
  Published on behalf of The Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image and The Forum for Movies and Mind
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• In this Subject: Arts (General) ,  Neurology & Psychiatry ,  Psychology
• By this author: Hasson, Uri ;  Landesman, Ohad ;  Knappmeyer, Barbara ;  Vallines, Ignacio ;  Rubin, Nava ;  Heeger, David J.

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