Effects of Narrative Structure and Emotional Content on Cognitive and Evaluative Responses to Film and Text

Abstract

One hundred and twenty subjects were randomly assigned to six groups and asked to recall emotional, important, and secondary information presented in either the film or text adaptation of the same story of which three versions varied in their adherence to or deviation from a conventional narrative grammar. Recall differed significantly according to story structure and medium. In general, negative emotions and secondary information were better recalled. Recall of important information was only superior when versions were linear. There were interactions between story structure and the emotional valence of information as well as between structure and the importance of information recalled. Comprehension and impressions of the main protagonists also depended upon narrative structure. Subjects had significantly more favorable impressions of the victimized female protagonist than of her male opponent only when the story structure was linear. Deviations from linearity had significantly different effects depending upon the category of aesthetic judgment. Evaluations of the protagonists and of the film or text were explained in terms of a two factor model of emotions and the entertainment value of suspense.