Through their eyes: neural and behavioral evidence for enhanced immersion via point-of-view editing

Point-of-view (POV) editing—the juxtaposition of a character’s gaze with the object of that gaze—is presumed to function as a unique empathic device that dissolves viewer-character boundaries; however, direct empirical evidence remains scarce. This study provides the first systematic functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral investigation into whether POV editing facilitates shared attention and intentionality. 39 adults viewed 8 original narrative movies containing POV sequences or closely matched control conditions. POV sequences increased fixation durations on characters’ faces and enhanced subsequent recognition of gazed-at content. Neurally, POV editing elicited stronger responses in regions implicated in mentalizing and increased shared, item-specific activation patterns across viewers within areas associated with perspective-taking and goal-directed control. Multivariate decoding further indicates that a character’s gaze induced more robust neural signatures of character identity on subsequent target elements. Together, these findings support a functional role for POV editing in promoting joint attention and shared intentionality in audiovisual messages.