Rethinking Naturalistic Movie Neuroimaging Through Film Form

Understanding how the brain processes complex real-world experiences remains a central challenge in cognitive neuroscience. Naturalistic movie neuroimaging has gained prominence by using temporally continuous stimuli that approximate everyday perception. However, cinematic experience is not equivalent to real-world cognition. Films are systematically constructed through film forms such as editing, camera movement, and sound, which diverge from natural perceptual conditions and shape cognitive processing. In this review, we rethink naturalistic movie neuroimaging by foregrounding film form as a central explanatory factor. We propose a conceptual framework for studying human cognition through film form, in which film form is conceptualized as a mediating layer between naturalistic movie neuroimaging and cognitive processing. We synthesize behavioral and neuroimaging evidence showing that multiple film forms exert domain-specific influences on attention, emotion, and memory. To organize these findings, we propose the Film Cognition Matrix, which maps film forms onto core cognitive domains and supports comparative research. Finally, we argue that interpretations of naturalistic movie neuroimaging should explicitly model film form as a mediator. Future directions include computationally modeling to isolate film-form effects on neural activity, expanding film-form–cognition mapping, exploring interactive and immersive media, and clarifying the boundary between real-world cognition and cinematic aesthetics.