![]() ![]() ![]() Early in the 20th century, frame presentation rates were increased to make the flicker of the successive images less aversive. Instead, it has evolved slowly over the last 120 years. Nonetheless, film did not start out well meshed with human perceptual and cognitive systems. No one can say definitively what causes these mental fluctuations, but it is clear that 1/ f patterns are a hallmark for complexity, and they are found throughout the physical and social world (Newman 2005). We and Gilden ( 2001) claim this pattern is a signature of the working human mind, and perhaps also a signature of what best captures our attention. Roughly, this means that the “height” of each wave (or amplitude, which is proportional to the square root of its power) is in strict proportion to its length, and the logarithmic units of power are the inverse of the logarithmic units of frequency (= 1/ f). ![]() That is, if one performs Fourier analysis on the serial patterns of RTs or of shot lengths, and then power analysis, one finds a complex array of self-similar sine waves whose periods are in the ranges of seconds, tens of seconds, minutes, tens of minutes, and longer, each wave growing in magnitude (power) proportional to its wavelength. That is, human attention over time, as revealed by a series of reaction times (RTs) in a cognitive task, fluctuates in a pattern close to 1/ f, and increasingly, films have come to adopt near-1/ f-shot-length fluctuations as well. These patterns have incrementally approached the fluctuations of human attention as demonstrated in the laboratory (Cutting et al 2010 Gilden 2001). One source of evidence concerns the changing pattern of shot lengths. Historically, there are powerful sociological, cultural, economic, and even political reasons for this, but we would also argue that Hollywood-style film has evolved so that filmmakers have more control over the attention of filmgoers (Smith 2006) and, in essence, the human mind. Popular American films penetrate nearly every aspect of contemporary Western life, and to an only somewhat lesser degree most all cultures of the world. ![]()
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