When Scary Parts Come Up – Eyes Open or Closed?
Posted by Rob in Google Reader Shared Items, tags: moviesThis is kind of an informal poll I'm doing. When you are watching a movie, particularly a scary one – do you watch it all the way through? Or do you close your eyes for scary and/or gory parts?
This came up because I read this article where research was done that showed that scary music is spookier for listeners with their eyes shut.
I’ve always felt that. Whether it’s music or a scary part of the movie – that it’s more scary to those who don’t watch it – those that prefer to hide their eyes.
That’s because I believe your mind makes it worse than it really is because your brain hears what’s happening, but since it doesn’t have any visual cues to tie it to, it fills in the blanks with imagery that’s generally more frightening than the real thing.
But back to the research: Neuroscientists have discovered that a brain centre involved in sensing emotion and fear called the amygdala kicks into action when volunteers listen to scary music with eyes closed. To uncover any neural basis for this effect, researchers scanned the brains of 15 volunteers before and during film scores.
Sure enough, volunteers rated the eerie-sounding music – laced with staccato strings, ominous trombones, and weird effects – as more emotional than a more neutral tune.
And like I said above, were they to do the same with scary movies I’m sure the results would be the same.
What do you think? Are scary movies even more scary when you DON'T watch the scary parts? Let us know in comments.
Tags: movies
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