Enactive cinema paves way for understanding complex real-time social interaction in neuroimaging experiments

Pia Tikka,Niklas Ravaja,Tapio Takala,Aline W De Borst,Mauri Kaipainen,Roberto Pugliese,Aleksander Väljamäe

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2012.00298

Abstract

We outline general theoretical and practical implications of what we promote as enactive cinema for the neuroscientific study of online socio-emotional interaction. In a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) setting, participants are immersed in cinematic experiences that simulate social situations. While viewing, their physiological reactions—including brain responses—are tracked, representing implicit and unconscious experiences of the on-going social situations. These reactions, in turn, are analyzed in real-time and fed back to modify the cinematic sequences they are viewing while being scanned. Due to the engaging cinematic content, the proposed setting focuses on living-by in terms of shared psycho-physiological epiphenomena of experience rather than active coping in terms of goal-oriented motor actions. It constitutes a means to parametrically modify stimuli that depict social situations and their broader environmental contexts. As an alternative to studying the variation of brain responses as a function of a priori fixed stimuli, this method can be applied to survey the range of stimuli that evoke similar responses across participants at particular brain regions of interest.

Highlights

“David observes Sally entering a coffee room filled with lively conversation of colleagues
The dilemma we suggest to solve with the enactive cinema setting is how to model participants’ engagement in the social situations created by cinematic scenes without destroying the emotional immersion
ENACTIVE CINEMA FOR SOCIAL REAL-TIME NEUROSCIENCE Rather than studying the variation of brain responses as a function of a-priori fixed stimuli we suggest the study of brain activity as a function of dynamically adapted stimuli

Summary

HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE

Pia Tikka 1*, Aleksander Väljamäe 2,3, Aline W. de Borst, Roberto Pugliese 4, Niklas Ravaja 5,6, Mauri Kaipainen 7 and Tapio Takala 4. In a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) setting, participants are immersed in cinematic experiences that simulate social situations. While viewing, their physiological reactions—including brain responses—are tracked, representing implicit and unconscious experiences of the on-going social situations. Their physiological reactions—including brain responses—are tracked, representing implicit and unconscious experiences of the on-going social situations These reactions, in turn, are analyzed in real-time and fed back to modify the cinematic sequences they are viewing while being scanned. As an alternative to studying the variation of brain responses as a function of a priori fixed stimuli, this method can be applied to survey the range of stimuli that evoke similar responses across participants at particular brain regions of interest

INTRODUCTION

NEUROSCIENCE OF SOCIAL INTERACTION

Enactive cinema in neuroimaging experiments

ENACTIVE CINEMATIC STIMULI

TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION OF ENACTIVE CINEMA IN fMRI

CONCLUSION