2024-08-29 15:01:22
Crime, action, comedy or documentary? A study has investigated why we particularly like certain films – and revealed differences in the brain.
Do you like explosive action films or do crime thrillers keep you hooked until the last minute? A new study from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) shows that the choice of your favorite film genre can provide deep insights into how your brain works. In particular, the brain activity of action and crime fans seems to differ.
Films are more than just entertainment. They take us through a rollercoaster of emotions. “The great appeal of films is that they not only depict all human emotions, but can also trigger them. Negative emotions such as anger or fear play a central role in many films,” said Esther Zwiky from the Institute of Psychology at MLU in a press release. But until now, little was known about how our film preferences are related to the processing of negative emotions in the brain.
In a comprehensive study, the researchers analyzed data from 257 people. They provided information about their favorite film genres and were also examined for their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While they were lying in the MRI, the participants were shown angry or fearful faces and geometric shapes – an established test for measuring the processing of emotional stimuli in the brain.
Two areas of the brain were in focus: the nucleus accumbens, known as the reward center, and the amygdala. The latter is responsible for vital emotional reactions and can trigger a fight-or-flight response to threats.
The results were surprising: fans of action films showed particularly strong reactions in both areas of the brain. “We had not expected this, as action films typically provide a lot of stimuli. It would therefore have been obvious that action fans are not so easy to stimulate,” Zwiky continued. Instead, the results indicated that these people react particularly sensitively to emotional stimuli and perceive this stimulation as an incentive.
A similar activity was observed in fans of comedy films. However, the situation was different in fans of crime films, thrillers and documentaries: here both areas of the brain reacted significantly less to the emotional stimuli than in the other groups. “It seems that people choose the film genres that optimally stimulate their brains,” the researchers concluded.
So, people who like to watch action films or comedies might have a stronger need for intense emotional experiences. On the other hand, people who like crime films and documentaries might prefer a calmer and more analytical approach to emotional content.