Slow motion in films and video clips: Music influences perceived duration and emotion, autonomic physiological activation and pupillary responses

Abstract

Slow motion scenes are ubiquitous in screen-based audiovisual media and are typically accompanied by emotional music. The strong effects of slow motion on observers are hypothetically related to heightened emotional states in which time seems to pass more slowly. These states are simulated in films and video clips, and seem to resemble such experiences in daily life. The current study investigated time perception and emotional response to media clips containing decelerated human motion, with or without music using psychometric and psychophysiological testing methods. Participants were presented with slow-motion scenes taken from commercial films, ballet and sports footage, as well as the same scenes converted to real-time. Results reveal that slow-motion scenes, compared to adapted real-time scenes, led to systematic underestimations of duration, lower perceived arousal but higher valence, lower respiration rates and smaller pupillary diameters. The presence of music compared to visual-only presentations strongly affected results in terms of higher accuracy in duration estimates, higher perceived arousal and valence, higher physiological activation and larger pupillary diameters, indicating higher arousal. Video genre affected responses in addition. These findings suggest that perceiving slow motion is not related to states of high arousal, but rather affects cognitive dimensions of perceived time and valence. Music influences these experiences profoundly, thus strengthening the impact of stretched time in audiovisual media.

Cortical modulation of pupillary function: systematic review

“…Pupillary dilatation results also from pleasant sounds and melodies. Known music tracks enhance pupillary diameters but not unknown and less salient melodies (Babiker et al., 2015; Gingras et al., 2015; Laeng et al., 2016; Rosa et al., 2017; Widmann, Schröger & Wetzel, 2018; Park & Whang, 2018; Leuchs, Schneider & Spoormaker, 2018; Wollner, Hammerschmidt & Albrecht, 2018). Finally, measures of pupillary diameter may also reveal active mental efforts associated with coping strategies such as reappraisal or suppression of negative emotions (Cohen, Moyal & Henik, 2015; Snowden et al., 2016; Urry et al., 2009; Vanderhasselt et al., 2014; Bebko et al., 2011; Bardeen & Daniel, 2017; Stanners et al., 1979; Kinner et al., 2017; Yih et al., 2018).…”

The impact of music and stretched time on pupillary responses and eye movements in slow-motion film scenes

“…The current study was part of a larger research project investigating the effects of music and playback speed in slow-motion scenes on subjectively reported emotional meaning, psychophysiological responses and perceived durations based on video clips from different genres (cf. ( 50 )). In the current study, we focused on analyses of eye movement parameters and pupillary responses in slow-motion scenes taken from commercial films including the corresponding soundtracks.…”

Time perception in human movement: Effects of speed and agency on duration estimation

“…For example, this has been shown with musical tempo (Droit-Volet et al, 2013; Oakes, 2003; Panagiotidi & Samartzi, 2013), a driving simulator (Leiser et al, 1991), rotating patterns of spots (Tayama et al, 1987), moving shapes (Brown, 1995), and both visual and tactile observations of a spinning wheel (Tomassini et al, 2011). Furthermore, we have found in previous studies that tapping along to lower metrical levels (i.e., faster tapping) results in shorter duration estimations (Hammerschmidt & Wöllner, 2020), and slow motion film scenes have been shown to be rated relatively shorter than real-time scenes (Wöllner et al, 2018).…”