Story understanding of a nonexplanatory film affects viewers' premotor activity and empathy for fictional characters

Abstract

Story understanding of a nonexplanatory film affects viewers' premotor activity and empathy for fictional characters Yukiko Ogawa,1 Sotaro Shimada2 1Faculty of Social Sciences, Hosei University, Tokyo, 2Department of Electronics and Bioinformatics, School of Science and Technology, Meiji University, Kanagawa, Japan Objective: The present study aimed to examine whether the story understanding of a nonexplanatory film affects mirror neuron system (MNS) activity and to discuss the interactive process involved in generating empathy for fictional characters during participants’ viewing of the film under natural viewing conditions.Methods: The material of the experiment was a Japanese film entitled Dolls. It is a nonexplanatory fiction film, in which the two (male and female) main characters show only minimal actions or facial expressions; therefore, the viewers hardly understand the story until it has been developed to some extent. We measured twelve participants’ MNS activity by using near-infrared spectroscopy during the viewing of the first 20 minutes of the film. Additionally, we measured the brain activity while performing their own hand and leg motions after viewing the film to identify their motor cortices.Results: The results showed that the viewer’s MNS activity increased gradually as the introductory part of the story developed. Subsequent analyses revealed a significant increase in MNS activity in the later chapters of the film at the right premotor and supplementary motor cortices (P