
Cuts in movies, and their impact on memory - noheartanthony
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/07/cuts_in_movies_and_their_impac_1.php
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TrevorJ
I wonder if this has something to do with the way our brain handles ocular
saccades. ( The rapid eye movement we go through when scanning a room,
changing the direction of our gaze. More info here:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade>)

The brain 'cuts out' our conscious vision during these rapid eye movements.
just look around the room at several different objects quickly by moving only
your eyes. You will discover an almost complete lack of visual information
between points A and B. You would expect to see a blur of movement for a
fraction of a second while your eye moves to the new target, but your brain
edits this out.

It seems at if a cut during a film could be roughly equivalent - I wonder if
some of the information directly preceding or following the hard cut gets
edited out by your head becasue it perceives it as a visual anomaly or
artifact, much the same as during a saccade?

To another point in the article- edits in film aren't (or shouldn't be) used
primarily to keep the viewers interest. During a narrative, a cut should is
made to bring context or to move the story forward. This was the way editing
was first introduced in fact. Cutting for cutting's sake isn't generally
considered good editing.

~~~
jerf
"You would expect to see a blur of movement for a fraction of a second while
your eye moves to the new target, but your brain edits this out."

With a bit of effort, I was able to override this. Try it and you'll see why
that gets edited out; there isn't much usable information there.

~~~
TrevorJ
You can force yourself to see during rapid eye movement by tracking a fast-
moving object such as your finger and paying attention to the background in
your periphery.

