Brain Symmetry in Alpha Band When Watching Cuts in Movies

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is asymmetry in the brain activity between both hemispheres while watching cuts in movies. We presented videos with cuts to 36 participants, registered electrical brain activity through electroencephalography (EEG) and analyzed asymmetry in frontal, somatomotor, temporal, parietal and occipital areas. EEG power and alpha (8–13 Hz) asymmetry were analyzed based on 4032 epochs (112 epochs from videos × 36 participants) in each hemisphere. On average, we found negative asymmetry, indicating a greater alpha power in the left hemisphere and a greater activity in the right hemisphere in frontal, temporal and occipital areas. The opposite was found in somatomotor and temporal areas. However, with a high inter-subjects variability, these asymmetries did not seem to be significant. Our results suggest that cuts in audiovisuals do not provoke any specific asymmetrical brain activity in the alpha band in viewers. We conclude that brain asymmetry when decoding audiovisual content may be more related with narrative content than with formal style.