Framerate Sensitivity and Cinemagoing Explain the Soap Opera Effect of Films

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.