An experiment has found that the movie which most gets
audience's emotional empathy racing is Romeo and Juliet, starring
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio, according to Daily
Mail.
DiCaprio and Danes in
"Romeo and Juliet"
The study involved wiring up 1,000 volunteers to
electrodes to measure their heart rate and blood pressure as they
watched various films.Researchers found romantic scenes triggered
the "mirror' neurons, causing the viewers to experience the same
emotions as the characters.
The volunteers - equal numbers of both sexes - had to wear a cap
fitted with 20 wired sensors called EEGs, or
electroencephalograms.
They were then shown significant ten-minute clips from movies as
their responses were measured.
Nearly 20 per cent had a surge in heart rate when they were
shown scenes of Romeo and Juliet dying in the 1996 movie by Baz
Luhrmann.
Twelve per cent had the same reaction to the ending of
Casablanca, which came second in the study by DVD rental service
Lovefilm.com.
And 10 percent were swooning when Patrick Swayze returned from
the dead to woo Demi Moore in Ghost.
?Patrick Swayze's epic performance in
Dirty Dancing got film-goers crying.
Women showed a greater response to the romantic
clips.
Their heart rates soared on average from 65 to 130
beats per minute at key moments, but men's rates rarely topped
100.
Dr Lewis said: "We only tend to see men's pulses
really racing when they are shown action films like Die Hard."
Neuropsychologist David Lewis, of the Mind Laboratory, said: "By
mirroring inside a person's head what is unfolding before their
eyes, neurons enable movie fans to unconsciously experience the
intense emotions depicted.
"This means if a plot involves romance, viewers will experience
the same response as if it was happening to them.
"The more romantic the movie, the more physically and
emotionally aroused viewers become as mirror neurons go into
overdrive.
"In addition, powerful chemicals related to amphetamines will be
released into the blood, producing the giddy high often experienced
with romance.
"Mirror neurons are a relatively recent discovery, but they help
us develop empathy.
"They are why people get moved to tears or get excited by what
they are seeing, because they become emotionally involved."
(China Daily/Agencies February 15, 2008)
