EXPRESS: Art opening minds: An experimental study on the effects of temporal and perspectival complexity in film on open-mindedness.

IF 1.5 3区心理学 Q4 PHYSIOLOGY

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Pub Date : 2025-04-02 DOI:10.1177/17470218251333747

Francesca Carbone, Abigail Pitt, Angela Nyhout, Stacie Friend, Murray Smith, Heather J Ferguson

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aesthetic Cognitivism posits that artworks have the potential to enhance open-mindedness. However, this claim has not yet been explored empirically. Here, we present two experiments that investigate the extent to which two formal features of film - temporal and perspectival complexity - can 'open our minds'. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the temporal complexity of film. Participants (Ntotal=100) watched a film (Memento) either in its original non-chronological order or the same film in a chronological order. In Experiment 2, we manipulated perspectival complexity in film. Participants (Ntotal=100) watched an excerpt from a film (Jackie Brown) that either included the perspectives of multiple characters on an event or a single character's perspective on the same event. Film conditions in both experiments were further compared with a control condition in which participants did not watch a film (N=50). Participants' open-mindedness was assessed in both experiments through four empirical indicators (creativity, imaginability, cognitive flexibility, openness to new evidence), and in Experiment 2 participants' eye movements, heart rate and electrodermal activity were measured while watching the film. Results showed that watching films, regardless of their temporal or perspectival complexity, modulated only one facet of open-mindedness -cognitive flexibility- when compared to the no-film control condition, providing only limited support for the aesthetic cognitivist claim that artistic films can 'open our minds'. Real-time measures in Experiment 2 revealed that pupil size and number of fixations were modulated by perspectival complexity: both were smaller when watching a film from multiple perspectives compared to a single perspective. Possible explanations for this difference are examined in relation to the viewers' cognitive processes involved in understanding and interpreting film content.

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来源期刊

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 医学-生理学

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

5.90%

发文量

178

审稿时长

3-8 weeks

期刊介绍： Promoting the interests of scientific psychology and its researchers, QJEP, the journal of the Experimental Psychology Society, is a leading journal with a long-standing tradition of publishing cutting-edge research. Several articles have become classic papers in the fields of attention, perception, learning, memory, language, and reasoning. The journal publishes original articles on any topic within the field of experimental psychology (including comparative research). These include substantial experimental reports, review papers, rapid communications (reporting novel techniques or ground breaking results), comments (on articles previously published in QJEP or on issues of general interest to experimental psychologists), and book reviews. Experimental results are welcomed from all relevant techniques, including behavioural testing, brain imaging and computational modelling. QJEP offers a competitive publication time-scale. Accepted Rapid Communications have priority in the publication cycle and usually appear in print within three months. We aim to publish all accepted (but uncorrected) articles online within seven days. Our Latest Articles page offers immediate publication of articles upon reaching their final form. The journal offers an open access option called Open Select, enabling authors to meet funder requirements to make their article free to read online for all in perpetuity. Authors also benefit from a broad and diverse subscription base that delivers the journal contents to a world-wide readership. Together these features ensure that the journal offers authors the opportunity to raise the visibility of their work to a global audience.