{"428521":{"#nid":"428521","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Why Alfred Hitchcock Grabs Your Attention","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe movies of Alfred Hitchcock have made palms sweat and pulses race for more than 65 years. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have now learned how the Master of Suspense affects audiences\u2019 brains. Their study measured brain activity while people watched clips from Hitchcock and other suspenseful films. During high suspense moments, the brain narrows what people see and focuses their attention on the story. During less suspenseful moments of the film clips, viewers devote more attention to their surroundings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany people have a feeling that we get lost in the story while watching a good movie and that the theater disappears around us,\u201d said Matt Bezdek, the Georgia Tech postdoctoral psychology researcher who led the study. \u201cNow we have brain evidence to support the idea that people are figuratively transported into the narrative. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the study, participants lay in an MRI machine and watched scenes from 10 suspenseful movies, including Hitchcock\u2019s \u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d and \u201cThe Man Who Knew Too Much,\u201d as well as \u201cAlien\u201d and \u201cMisery.\u201d As the movies played in the center of the screen, a flashing checker board pattern appeared around the edges.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers discovered an ebb and flow of brain activity in the calcarine sulcus: the first brain area to receive and process most visual information.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen the suspense grew, brain activity in the peripheral visual processing areas of the calcarine sulcus decreased and activity in the central processing areas increased. For example, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/s\/0nar6r89wcl6yow\/NxNW_Exp_1.avi?dl=0\u0022\u003Eduring the famous \u201cNorth by Northwest\u201d scene\u003C\/a\u003E, the brain narrowed its visual focus as the airplane bore down on Cary Grant. When he hid in the cornfield and suspense decreased, the neural activity reversed course and attention broadened.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEssentially, when suspense is the greatest, our brains shift activity in the calcarine sulcus to increase processing of critical information and ignore the visual content that doesn\u2019t matter.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s a neural signature of tunnel vision,\u201d said Georgia Tech\u2019s Eric Schumacher, an associate professor in the School of Psychology. \u201cDuring the most suspenseful moments, participants focused on the movie and subconsciously ignored the checker boards. The brain narrowed the participants\u2019 attention, steering them to the center of the screen and into the story.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe checker board pattern was used because neurons in the calcarine sulcus are typically attracted to that type of movement. By presenting the checker boards at all times, the researchers tested the idea that suspense temporarily suppresses the neuron\u2019s usual response. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe calcarine sulcus wasn\u2019t the only part of the brain sensitive to changes in suspense. The same was true for areas involved in higher-order visual areas involved in grouping objects together based on their color and how they\u2019re moving.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study is \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0306452215005965\u0022\u003Eset to be published\u003C\/a\u003E in the journal Neuroscience. What is the consequence of increasing processing during moments of high suspense?\u0026nbsp; The researchers have additional research suggesting that it also leads to increased memory of story-related information.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Researchers identify neural signature of tunnel vision"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDuring high suspense moments, the brain narrows what people see and focuses their attention on the story. During less suspenseful moments of the film clips, viewers devote more attention to their surroundings.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"During high suspense moments, the brain narrows what people see and focuses their attention on the story."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2015-07-27 08:38:40","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:15","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-07-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-07-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"428501":{"id":"428501","type":"image","title":"North by Northwest","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"North by Northwest","file":{"fid":"202825","name":"north-by-northwest.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/north-by-northwest_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/north-by-northwest_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1515579,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/north-by-northwest_0.jpg?itok=0pHMxcSf"}},"428491":{"id":"428491","type":"image","title":"Screen shot of movie","body":null,"created":"1449254358","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:18","changed":"1475895167","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:47","alt":"Screen shot of movie","file":{"fid":"202824","name":"stimuli.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stimuli_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/stimuli_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":394992,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/stimuli_0.jpg?itok=pNcC8FFt"}}},"media_ids":["428501","428491"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0306452215005965","title":"Read the study"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.psychology.gatech.edu\/","title":"Georgia Tech School of Psychology"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1912","name":"brain"},{"id":"98731","name":"Eric Schumacher"},{"id":"167710","name":"School of Psychology"},{"id":"171468","name":"Suspense"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"},{"id":"71901","name":"Society and Culture"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003ENational Media Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}