Finnish researchers at the University of Turku mapped the brain activity of (un)lucky participants who watched two of the highest rated horror movies of the last 100 years.
Humans are fascinated by things that scare them, such as death-defying stunts and true crime documentaries, provided these sources of fear at a safe distance. Horror movies are no different, providing a relentless villain, such as Jason in Friday the 13th or a supernatural threat.
For their study into cinematic terror, published in the journal NeuroImage, the researchers first established the 100 best and scariest horror movies of the past century, and how they made people feel.
Unseen threats are the scariest
Firstly, 72% of people report watching at last one horror movie every 6 months, and the reasons for doing so, besides the feelings of fear and anxiety, was primarily that of excitement. Watching horror movies was also an excuse to socialise, with many people preferring to watch horror movies with others than on their own.
People found horror that was psychological in nature and based on real events the scariest, and were far more scared by things that were unseen or implied rather than what they could actually see.
“This latter distinction reflects two types of fear that people experience. The creeping foreboding dread that occurs when one feels that something isn’t quite right, and the instinctive response we have to the sudden appearance of a monster that make us jump out of our skin,” says principal investigator, Professor Lauri Nummenmaa from Turku PET Centre.
MRI reveals different types of fear
Researchers wanted to know how the brain copes with fear in response to this complicated and ever changing environment. The group had people watch two horror movies (The Conjuring 2, 2016, and Insidious, 2010; both directed by James Wan) whilst measuring neural activity in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.
During those times when anxiety is slowly increasing, regions of the brain involved in visual and auditory perception become more active, as the need to attend for cues of threat in the environment become more important. After a sudden shock, brain activity is more evident in regions involved in emotion processing, threat evaluation, and decision making, enabling a rapid response.
However, these regions are in continuous talk-back with sensory regions throughout the movie, as if the sensory regions were preparing response networks as a scary event was becoming increasingly likely.
“Therefore, our brains are continuously anticipating and preparing us for action in response to threat, and horror movies exploit this expertly to enhance our excitement,” explains Researcher Matthew Hudson.
Source: University of Turku
