Identification, memory, elaboration. The importance of time in the context of the TV-series fruition

Abstract

Starting with the assumption that mechanical pictures have

had the biggest impact on pictorial narration Homo sapiens

has ever engaged with, in this paper we will try to collect

some evidence in order to summarize what we nowadays

know about the effects of a long-lasting mechanical picture

exposure. The main hypothesis is that TV series are powerful

storytelling products that alter the cognitive mechanism –

known in literature as “source monitoring” – that allows the

distinction between reality and fiction.

As perceivers, we engage in a perceptual relationship

with pictures surrounding us. They employ a visual retroactive

effect on our cognition, namely memory alteration

effects that may be elicited by both ethic and aesthetic judgments

of perceivers: what would I have done in her shoes

(ethical judgement)? What would I have felt in her shoes

(aesthetical judgment)? We will argue that the time needed

for TV series fruition is the most important variable for this

psychological phenomenon. More precisely, we distinguish

between fruition time and elaboration time. By proposing a

comparison between different visual media products, we will

show both experimental data and philosophical arguments

emphasizing the role of long-lasting picture exposure and

visual feature of tales for the insurgence of source misattribution.

More importantly, we will furthermore try to address

the role of mental imagery in this scenario, showing how the

phenomenological correspondence between mental imagery

and picture perception, along with the normal process of

mnemonic retrieval, are crucial for the occurrence of source

misattribution.