The Role of Theory of Mind and Empathy in Film Narrative Comprehension

How do we understand and share the experiences of different characters to follow a movie plot? How can we identify with situations that we have never lived before? When watching a film, viewers must not only perceive whatever is happening on the screen but they must also make sense out of what they are seeing. Similar to how we interpret social information from the real world, we systematically attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions and emotions) to movie characters that lead them to behave in a certain manner through a process known as Theory of Mind (ToM). In doing so, we often immerse ourselves in their lives and stories, identifying and empathising with the characters' emotional experiences. The rationale for examining the core processes of social cognition, i.e. empathy and ToM, regarding film cognition is twofold. A first theoretical objective considers film as the object of study. Specifically, this PhD project aims to (a) understand how these psychological processes contribute to our understanding of complex visual narratives and (b) to identify which cinematographic elements and techniques film directors use to enhance movie narratives -including characters' intentions, beliefs and emotions- and its power to elicit empathetic responses in viewers. To explore this, we will combine behavioural and functional neuroimaging methods, including EEG and fNIRS, in normal participants. A second more translational objective considers film as a powerful and unique method to address long-standing questions regarding the impairment of ToM and empathy in disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). In contrast to commonly-used sociocognitive assessment tasks that require participants to recognise mental states from static, decontextualized images, cinema requires inferring and updating these in a dynamic way over time, similar to real-life situations. Because of its naturalistic social nature, film cognition could help elucidate the specific sociocognitive processes impaired in ASD.