Public domainScene from North by Northwest: activated calcarine sulcus, the brain’s first stop for processing visual informationPublic domain
A nerve-racking sequence in a movie will not just make your hands sweat and your heart race. According to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in the United States, there is now stronger evidence that your brain will also be altered, especially an area called the calcarine sulcus, the brain’s first stop for processing visual information (Neuroscience, September 10, 2015). At moments of intense suspense, neural activity in the peripheral vision processing areas of the calcarine sulcus may diminish, while activity in the central areas increases, narrowing our visual focus, directing attention towards critical information, and leading us to ignore less relevant inputs. During calmer scenes, peripheral attention increases. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers analyzed the brain activity of 23 subjects who were made to watch scenes from 10 suspense movies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much. To evaluate their peripheral attention, the researchers installed a chessboard with blinking lights around the screen where the movies were being shown. During suspenseful scenes, the subjects’ brains narrowed their attention, leading them to focus on the center of the screen and the narrative, and to ignore the lights.
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