Relationship of terror feelings and physiological response during watching horror movie

Abstract

Movie is one of the most popular media types. Horror movie is a kind of attractive movie contents which part of people want to watch very much. Although the users feel terror of the contents, the users want to watch the horror movies to have extraordinary feelings such as excitements. Therefore, terror feelings of the horror movies are considered as an important factor to establish more attractive movie contents, and the effect of horror movie is highly believed. However, few previous studies have investigated a relationship of horror movie and its terror feelings. This study aims to investigate psychophysiological effects of horror movies on the user for clarifying the relationship. In the experiment, physiological data (electrocardiogram and respiration, and skin conductance) of ten male subjects were measured. Additionally, after watching movie contents, the experimenter asked the subjects points in movie affecting terror feelings on the subjects and how the subjects felt in these points. The experimental results shows that change in intensity and cycle of respiration: in the point affecting terror feelings on the subject, the intensity of respiration was augmented and the cycle of respiration was shortened.