Emotional Impact on Young Viewers of Cine Quinqui: A Case Study of Perderlo Todo Through Electroencephalography (EEG)

Neurocinematics is an emerging discipline within neuroscience that studies cinematic art through the analysis of viewers’ brain activity. Similarly, Cognitive Film Theory focuses on the examination of the emotional and cognitive processes elicited during film viewing. This study examines the brain activity of young viewers using electroencephalography during the screening of a ‘cine quinqui’ (delinquency cinema) movie, filmed with non-professional actors in a low-income neighbourhood of a town in Alicante, Spain. For the experiment, the film’s director selected two scenes, one with positive and one with negative emotional content. The results indicated activation in the orbitofrontal and temporal regions of the brain, areas anatomically associated with emotional processing. Moreover, the negatively charged sequence elicited a stronger impact on viewers than the positively charged one. These findings may contribute to a deeper understanding of the influence of emotional valence on brain activity during cinematic experiences.