Your Brain After a “Boo!”: The Neuroscience Behind Horror Films

Introduction

As Marion Crane steps into her shower at the Bates Motel and closes the curtain behind her, she experiences a short-lived sense of security. The soothing sounds of running water accompany the satisfaction spread across her face. Her expressions of relief quickly turn into terror, as a faceless figure attacks a now petrified and helpless Marion, and the sequence ends with a close-up shot of Marion’s lifeless eyes. The camera pans to the soothing sounds of water  that the audience once associated with safety [1]. This shower scene from Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror film, constitutes one of horror’s most iconic sequences. So, what exactly makes this scene so terrifying for the audience? Is it the suspenseful shadow slowly appearing through the shower curtain? The sudden close-up shots showing fear on Marion Crane’s once untroubled face? Or, could it be the unsettling violin screeches that accompany the equally unsettling sequence? 

Films, especially horror movies, engage the audiences’ brains through acting performances, sound, and cinematography. The connections between neuroscience and cinema reveal an emerging field of “neurocinema.” For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows researchers to explore brain activity during the duration of a film [2]. fMRI identifies blood-oxygen-level-dependent changes that occur during neuronal activity, after the brain encounters a stimulus or performs a task; a large increase in activity in specific brain regions is measured by the intensity of images shown from the fMRI [3]. Watching a movie in an fMRI machine allows researchers to investigate how our brains respond to a movie stimulus by identifying brain regions where response times were similar between participants of a study using a technique called inter-subject correlation (ISC) [2].  With a push for the use of naturalistic stimuli in cognitive neuroscience research, exploring the effects of horror films on the human brain can also approximate how our brains behave in our everyday lives [4]. Therefore, investigating how horror films impact our brains encourages further research on the brain’s intersection with cinema.

Neurocinematics 

In neurocinema, researchers study phenomena that influence an individual’s brain activity when viewing a movie [5]. Uri Hasson, the neuroscientist who coined the term “neurocinematics,” had research participants view a movie, and then he compared the responses in specific brain regions using ISC [2]. A high ISC value indicates that the film stimulus resulted in similar brain activities among viewers, while a low ISC value suggests variability in brain activity among viewers [2]. The participants viewed four movies across a variety of genres, one including a 1961 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “Bang You’re Dead!” [2]. Participants viewing this episode showed the highest rate of ISC out of all four genres, where participants held similar brain responses in over 65% of the neocortex [2]. The neocortex contains the occipital and temporal lobes, where the primary visual and auditory cortex are located, respectively [2]. These regions comprise the main structures responsible for processing visual and auditory information [2]. Hitchcock’s filmmaking style succeeded in engaging 65% of the neocortex, including the primary visual and auditory cortices, among the participants of this study [2]. By using ISC to explore cinema’s influence on brain activity, Hasson’s research provided other neuroscientists with a novel paradigm of neurocinematics. Also, his work led the way for other researchers to further investigate the effects of horror films’ visual and auditory aspects on the human brain.

Evoking Fear in Film 

A defining feature of horror films is their ability to evoke fear in their audience. The brain’s temporal lobe is a key component of the limbic system, a nerve system that controls emotions and behaviors [6]. In addition to auditory processing, the temporal lobe houses the amygdala, an integral structure in the limbic system that is involved in processing emotions like fear [6]. When the brain encounters a threatening stimulus, the prefrontal cortex is responsible for evaluating the stimulus and regulating emotions. The amygdala processes the information from the prefrontal cortex and becomes consistently active when the brain encounters a fear-provoking situation [7]. In another study, research shows the viewers’ amygdala activation was proportional to the self-reported fear they felt during horror movies [7]. Additionally, amygdala activation during a “jump scare” was synchronized across viewers, indicating that horror films hold similar control over the audience’s brain activity [7].

Filmmakers often employ the “jump scare” tactic to evoke fear from their audience. The “jump scare” produces a startle response – an unconscious defensive response to intense or sudden stimuli [8, 9]. This sudden stimulus usually consists of a sudden visual appearance causing activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus, primary visual cortex, and superior colliculus,  all regions of the brain necessary for processing vision [10]. Negative fear-provoking stimuli, such as loud noises or flashes, often cause a stronger defensive startle reflex, as the brain is aware of a future threat [7]. As a result, a horror film may try to engage an audience by including numerous “jump scares.” For example, the editing of the shower scene in Psycho shows repeated shots of the attack on Marion, initiating the audience’s startle responses seen by the activation of the brain’s visual regions [1, 7, 10]. 

However, filmmakers can also induce fear slowly throughout a film. The acclaimed shower scene in Psycho induces fear using a “jump scare” when the attacker suddenly appears behind the curtain. Yet, the relaxing scene of Marion showering before this appearance serves an equally important role in evoking fear. Research shows that calm scenes are necessary to increase the impact of powerful scenes, like ones that contain “jump scares” [7]. The scene of Marion showering before the attack provides a sense of safety for the audience, which strengthens viewers’ anxiety and fear after seeing the subsequent attacks [11, 7]. The balance between the slow suspense build-up and the “jump scare” sequence is crucial to engage an audience. 

The Role of Sound and Visuals

Furthermore, the soundtrack and the editing visuals in Psycho’s shower scene drive the building of suspense by activating regions in the brain responsible for processing audition and vision. In a recent 2020 study, Wang and Wang measured the average activity of auditory and visual brain regions during the shower scene using fMRI [12]. The flowing water establishes an initial peaceful tone of the scene, wherein the brain has both low auditory and visual activity values, indicating little brain activity in regions such as the superior temporal cortex for auditory processing and later visual cortex for visual processing [12]. As the unsettling violin notes and Marion’s scream overtake the relaxing sounds of running water, the brain activity in the auditory region increases in a mere ten seconds during the film [12]. The editing of the scene quickly turns into rapid cuts between Marion and her attacker, leading to increased stimulation of visual brain areas [1, 12]. In these ten seconds, sixteen shots were used; with its rapid editing, these shots act as visual stimulation, resulting in higher levels of visual brain activity [12]. Following the sounds of screams and violins screeching, the soundscape circles back to the sounds of running water, and the editing slows as the scene shows a close-up shot of Marion’s eye [1]. This time, the running water sounds result in high auditory activity values, while the shot of Marion’s eye produces high visual activity values [12]. Studying the audio-visual information from the film Psycho helps demonstrate how our brains process information simultaneously. Hitchcock’s ability to engage both visual and auditory regions of the brain indicates the similarities among individuals when confronted with the same stimuli, such as loud shrieking music or quick jump cuts in a scene. The impact of both sound and visual design in Psycho’s shower scene demonstrates how horror films succeed in engaging the audience’s brain areas and serve as a reminder of the influence of movies on our emotions.

Conclusion and Future Use of Neurocinematics 

Overall, Psycho succeeds in engaging multiple brain areas through visual and auditory stimulation with its acclaimed shower scene. By breaking horror taboos, Hitchcock became one of the most widely acclaimed horror filmmakers, credited with his consistent ability to trigger fear in his audiences [12]. When directing the film, Hitchcock utilized suspense, rapid cuts, and controlled the soundscape to evoke fear, activating auditory regions like the superior temporal cortex and visual brain regions like the lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex among viewers [12, 10].  

The emerging field of neurocinema offers filmmakers useful information about creating and marketing a film by utilizing the necessity of engaging multiple areas of the brain. Movies serve as natural and realistic stimuli for cognitive processes, like regulating fear, and provide information about the activity of specific brain regions that is beneficial for neuroscientists. Neuromarketing companies can test an audience’s reaction to trailers by continuing the use of fMRI for assessing brain activity [13]. Studying the brain’s response to movies could be beneficial for filmmakers to use this information for marketing tactics [13]. Neurofeedback offers filmmakers and neuroscientists the opportunity to improve film aspects like script, characters, sound, and cinematography based on neuroscience research [13].  While utilizing neuromarketing to advertise movies is an uncommon tactic in Hollywood, the emergence of neurocinematic research holds the potential to become a new approach to improve films by emphasizing the engagement and cognitive processes in our brains.

References

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