Hosted by the School of Psychological Science
Humans are easily distracted and often struggle to stick to the task at hand. However, under certain circumstances - for example when we watch film, television, or live theatre - we can become completely immersed. Time passes unnoticed, we become unaware of our surrounding, and we might even forget to eat and drink.
We have developed a set of methods to study the moment-by-moment fluctuations in immersion when participants watch television, film and live theatre. Although our work has highlighted the importance of the perceptual quality of the experience, it also highlights the importance of the narrative as a major determinant of the extent of immersion for these types of content.