POVEZANOST FENOMENA AFANTAZIJA SA PREFERENCIJOM KA ODREĐENIM FILMSKIM ŽANROVIMA

Abstract

Aphantasia is a recently identified condition which is defined as the inability to create mental imagery. This study aimed to examine whether the level of mental imagery of respondents can be predicted based on the preference of the movie genre and to explore whether there are statistically significant differences between respondents who prefer different movie genres in terms of aphantasia. The sample consisted of 925 respondents (M= 187, F= 738). Age range in the sample was from 18 to 85 (M = 31.13; SD = 10.93). The aphantasia was operationalized through VVIQ (Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire), the Instrument for Measuring Favorite Movie Genres, made for the purpose of this research was also used. Data processing was performed on the overall score of aphantasia, as well as on separate scales of open and closed eyes, and after that on a subsample of men and women, but the results were not statistically significant in any case. Both aphantasia scales of open (α = 0.874) and closed eyes (α = 0.936) show high internal consistency reliability. The results show that the phenomenon of aphantasia cannot be predicted based on the preferences of movie genres (F(6, 918) = 0.91, p = .489, R2 = .006), as well as that there are no statistically significant differences in aphantasia between respondents who prefer different film genres (F (5/919) = 0.16, p = .976). By the method of multiple linear regression of the opposite direction, we obtained that aphantasia can statistically significantly predict only the preferences of the Comedy genre (F(2, 922) = 4.67, p =.010; R2 = .010) with β = -.12; p = .003. Since different results are obtained in the reverse order, based on aphantasia we can predict preferences for movie genres to a certain extent, which could speak in favor of previously done researches that claimed aphantasia is congenital.