Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
12-2025
Abstract
The soap opera effect is an unsettling feeling that some individuals experience while watching films at a high framerate. It has received little scholarly attention, and most explanations of it are speculative or anecdotal. Drawing on the mere exposure effect, this preregistered laboratory experiment provides new evidence of framerate sensitivity and cinemagoing as explanatory factors of the soap opera effect. Undergraduate students (N = 270) reported their cinemagoing and completed a novel task to measure their framerate sensitivity. They also completed a task indicating their framerate preferences. Those with a higher framerate sensitivity and more regular cinemagoing preferred the standard framerate in one scene and the high framerate in another scene. These divergent findings may be due to differences in camera movement and luminance between the scenes.
Keywords
visual perception, mere exposure effect, framerate sensitivity, soap opera effect, films
Discipline
Asian Studies | Film and Media Studies
Research Areas
Integrative Research Areas
Publication
Journal of Media Psychology
First Page
1
Last Page
13
ISSN
1617-6383
Identifier
10.1027/1864-1105/a000503
Publisher
Hogrefe
Citation
ROSENTHAL, Sonny and LI, Benjamin J..
Framerate sensitivity and cinemagoing explain the soap opera effect of films: A preregistered study of undergraduate students in Singapore.. (2025). Journal of Media Psychology. 1-13.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/419
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000503