Movies have an impact on your brain.
A recent study reveals that watching a movie involves the brain juggling multiple tasks, with different regions and networks being activated depending on the complexity of the scenes. Brain scans showed that as viewers move from one scene to another, 24 distinct brain networks are engaged, depending on how difficult or straightforward the content is to follow.
The study found that when a scene is challenging to understand or features ambiguity, the brain’s “executive control” networks are activated. These networks, which are responsible for planning, problem-solving, and prioritizing information, are engaged when the brain experiences a high cognitive load. In contrast, during simpler scenes—like a clear conversation—the brain relies more on specialized regions, such as those responsible for language processing.
Lead researcher Dr. Reza Rajimehr, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explained that executive control areas typically activate when tasks require greater mental effort. For instance, when a scene involves complex meanings or requires understanding of context, the brain shifts to using these broader cognitive networks. In contrast, simpler scenes activate specialized regions like language centers.
For this research, the team analyzed functional MRI data from 176 participants who watched various short movie clips, including scenes from Inception, The Social Network, and Home Alone. Using artificial intelligence, they mapped brain activity to different aspects of the movies, such as people, objects, speech, music, and narrative.
The findings, published in the journal Neuron, mark the first attempt to map out how different brain networks are activated during natural movie viewing. Dr. Rajimehr expressed that future studies could delve deeper into how individual brain networks respond to various movie elements, such as the social or semantic context, and explore how brain activity may differ from one person to another.
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