The apparent reality of movies and emotional arousal: A study using physiological and self-report measures

Historical developments of cinema technology have
contributed to the apparent reality of movie-goers' experience. The current
study uses both self-report and physiological measures (heart-rate, skin
conductance, skin temperature) as indices of 29 participants' negative
emotional arousal, so as to investigate the effect of increasing a movie's
perceptual realism (i.e., stereoscopic depth) on emotional experience. Data were
recorded while half of the participants viewed emotional movie scenes in 3D and
half viewed them in 2D. The groups did not differ significantly in terms of
their self-reported feelings of negative emotional arousal, tonic skin
conductance level or skin temperature. However, the 3D group reported their
experience as significantly more perceptually realistic (natural), and they
also demonstrated a significantly higher heart-rate change-score than their
counterparts in the 2D condition. Importantly, the current study provides evidence
that these results are not due to group differences in emotional sensitivity,
engagement, or the novelty of the 3D effect. Group differences in heart-rate,
but not skin conductance level, suggest that increasing stereoscopic depth
reduces the emotional regulation processes. Although caution is expressed about
assumptions of causation, consideration is given to the idea that increased
physiological arousal contributes to perceived apparent reality and vice versa.