SEEM_IT: Subjective Experience and Estimation of Moving-Image Time

This area is a follow up of the “Neurofilmological” one. Here I investigate (with the collaboration of a team of psychologists and neuroscientists, and by crossing theoretical analysis and empirical experimentation), how different semiotic and stylistic solutions of audiovisual texts determine different estimations and judgements of time duration and speed. The basic hypothesis is that the perception of time is embodied, and that it is in particular linked to the mirroring perception of movement: moving images are therefore to be considered as effective “time machines”.

For more information see also the website of the research project Time perception and performativity in audiovisual experiences: editing, camera movements, action and narrative manipulations. A neurofilmological approach (PRIN Perception, Performativity, and Cognitive Sciences funded by the Italian Government, P.I. Antonino Pennisi, University of Messina,. years 2015–2019, Grant number: 2015TM24JS – SH4). 


The Editing Density of Moving Images Influences Viewers’ Time Perception: The Mediating Role of Eye Movements

Stefania Balzarotti, Federica Cavaletti, Barbara Colombo, Elisa Cardani, Maria Rita Ciceri, Alessandro Antonietti, Ruggero Eugeni, “The Editing Density of Moving Images Influences Viewers’ Time Perception: The Mediating Role of Eye Movements”, in Cognitive Science. A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2021 Apr; 45(4): e12969. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12969. PMID: 33844350


Out of Joint. Audiovisual Media as Technologies of the Time

Ruggero Eugeni, “Out of Joint. Audiovisual Media as Technologies of the Time”, in Luca Malavasi, Sara Tongiani (eds.), Technophobia and Technophilia in the Media, Art and Visual Culture, Canterano (RM), Aracne, 2020, pp. 15-28, ISBN 978-88-255-3985-1

In this paper, I raise the question of whether audiovisual media, notably cinema, can be considered as technologies of the time and, if so, by what means and dynamics they operate on, in and with time. The first two sections adopt a top-down approach. In section 2, I examine what forms time takes on in modernity, while I dedicate section 3 to the role played by cinema in this context. The second part, in turn, takes a bottom-up approach: in section 4, I take into consideration the processes of constitution of subjective temporal experience as they emerge from contemporary cognitive neuroscience; section 5, in turn, focuses on a couple of theories on the transition from the subjective to the social experience of time. Finally, in the last section, I propose a hypothesis about the specific role of cinema in the transition from the subjective to the social dimension of temporality.

Keywords: Time perception; Film experience; Technological media.


It Doesn’t Seem_It, But It Is. A Neurofilmological Approach to the Subjective Experience of Moving-Image Time

Ruggero Eugeni, Stefania Balzarotti, Federica Cavaletti, Adriano D’Aloia, “It Doesn’t Seem_It, But It Is. A Neurofilmological Approach to the Subjective Experience of Moving-Image Time”, in Antonio Pennisi, Alessandra Falzone (eds.), The Extended Theory of Cognitive Creativity. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Performativity, Cham, Springer, 2020, pp. 243-265

DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22090-7_16

This article illustrates the first steps of a research project concerning the “Subjective Experience and Estimation of Moving-Image Time” (SEEM_IT). After introducing the theoretical background of the research, that links time perception to the embodied experience of movement, the article presents the main empirical results of an experiment aimed at assessing how spectators’ time perception is affected by the style of editing and the type of represented action in short video clips. Though the style of editing played a major role in influencing SEEM_IT, it also significantly interacted with the type of represented action. The article reassesses these findings by discussing them within the theoretical framework of the research.
Keywords: Time perception; Film experience; Neurofilmology; Duration estimation; Time passage; Editing; Action


What Time Is In? Subjective Experience and Evaluation of Moving Image Time

Ruggero Eugeni, “What Time Is In? Subjective Experience and Evaluation of Moving Image Time”, in Reti, saperi, linguaggi – Italian Journal of Cognitive Sciences, 1/2018, January-June, pp. 81-96, DOI: 10.12832/90973

This is the first article deriving from the project Time perception and performativity in audiovisual experiences: editing, camera movements, action and narrative manipulations. A neurofilmological approach (Prin project 2015 Perception, Performativity, and Cognitive Sciences). This paper sketches the main lines and introduces the first results of my theoretical and empirical research set within the framework of Neurofilmology and focused on the Subjective Experience and Evaluation of Moving Image Time (SEEM_ IT).