Oldal 97 [97]
96 | Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education
and the biological factors underlying reception. The research methods are
similar to those in the natural and social sciences, particularly neurobiology
and psychology, and the measurements — like in every empirical study — are
expected to be reliable, valid, and objective. Cognitive film theory investigates
the cognitive background of the reception of film narratives. The research
approach of aesthetic experience and immersion can be phenomenological,
psychological, or biological (neurological) depending on the methodology
being followed. Phenomenological studies primarily follow a qualitative
paradigm, while psychological and biological studies are often quantitative
(Balint, 2014).
Papp-Zipernovszky, Kovacs and Drotos (2019) used a mixed methodology
design (data was collected via EEG and verbal word association) to measure the
psychophysiological activities that occur during the reception of narrative and
non-narrative film structures. The research team aimed to explore attentional
and emotional cognitive processes rather than the conscious, verbalizable
processes of reception. Based on patterns of brain activity which occurred
during film viewing, it was found that viewing a non-narrative film was a more
demanding memory task for the recipients due to the lack of spatio-temporal
continuity and causal connections. The results of the word association test
showed that the use of the same terms is less frequent in the reception of non¬
narrative films, thus there is less social consensus in individual interpretations.
Thus, the research concluded that the reception of non-narrative films was
strongly dependent on the personality of the individual.
A phenomenological approach can be seen in the qualitative analysis of
subjective film experience, where respondents are asked to formulate their
immersion experiences with fictional stories. Film immersion experiences
are recorded through interviews, open-ended questionnaires or narrative
diaries, although the validity of phenomenological studies has been called into
question as they draw their conclusions by from the analysis of self-reported
data. Such research can be replaced or complemented by measurements
focusing on physiological parameters (e.g., heart rate, eye movements, skin
sensations, or cerebral blood circulation) (Bilandzik & Busselle, 2017).
Phenomenological studies examine immersion in literary or cinematic
narratives from two main aspects. One is the extent to which immersion in the
narratives plot world has occurred. The other aspect is the extent to which the
aesthetic experience of an artifact, which is shaped through language or visual
elements and organized into a specific narrative structure, evokes immersion
(Kuijpers, Hakemulder, Balint & Doicaru, 2017). A number of techniques
can be used for empirical research examining the impact of the narrative.
One such example is a questionnaire study (n = 210) that demonstrated that
the delaying effect of suspense enhances viewer immersion (Balint, Kuijspers
& Doicaru, 2017). In another recall study, using Lichtenstein and Brewr’s
method, the respondents were asked to highlight narrative elements that
had an impact on the film experience. The qualitative case study revealed