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Filmmaking Practice Through a Cognitive Penetration Lens - A Practitioner’s Inquiry into Implicit Social Perception
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Doctoral thesis (article-based)
| Defence date: 2026-05-21
Electronic archive copy is available via Aalto Thesis Database.
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en
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115 + app. 50
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Aalto University publication series Doctoral Theses, 100/2026
Abstract
This dissertation examines how cognitive penetration—the shaping of perception by prior beliefs, experience, and knowledge—influences both filmmaking and audience perception. Although cognitive penetration can enhance expertise in professional contexts, it can also distort social perception, reinforce xenophobia, and contribute to conflict. These effects become especially pronounced under conditions of uncertainty or ambiguity, when perception depends more heavily on internal knowledge. As film and media increasingly serve as primary sources of information about social groups, filmmakers play an important role in shaping viewers’ prior beliefs. Despite its significance, cognitive penetration has not yet been systematically examined in relation to filmmaking and film perception.
Drawing on cognitive film theory, social neuroscience, and practice-based artistic research, this dissertation extends Neurocinematics by investigating cognitive penetration from a filmmaker’s perspective. Through interdisciplinary experiments, neuroscientific analysis, and artistic practice, it examines whether knowledge acquired through film can evoke implicit social bias and whether such effects can be detected in implicit neural processing. It also explores how filmmakers’ dramaturgical expertise can enrich the interpretation of neural data collected during film viewing, how collaboration with neuroscientists can inform filmmaking practices aimed at reducing the misrepresentation of social groups, and how findings on ambiguous image perception can be translated into cinematic form.
The dissertation produced five peer-reviewed articles, two artistic works, and two novel scientific methods for investigating and interpreting implicit social perception through film. Its findings deepen understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying implicit social bias, demonstrate the value of integrating filmmaker expertise into neuroscientific research, and show how evidence informed filmmaking can help reduce biased representations of social groups. In doing so, the study advances understanding of cognitive penetration and its significance for filmmaking practice and pedagogy.
Description
Supervising professor
Díaz-Kommonen, Lily, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Art and Media, FinlandThesis advisor
Sams, Mikko, Emeritus Prof., Aalto University, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, FinlandDíaz-Kommonen, Lily, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Art and Media, Finland
Other note
Parts
- [Publication 1]: Afdile, M., Jääskeläinen, I. P., Glerean, E., Smirnov, D., Alho, J., Äimälä, A., & Sams, M. (2019). Contextual knowledge provided by a movie biases implicit perception of the protagonist. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201907304480DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz028 View at publisher
- [Publication 2]: Afdile, M., & Jääskeläinen, I. P. (2020). Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement (PMSM), for Investigating Implicit Social Bias. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2020(156), e60817.
Full text in Acris/Aaltodoc: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202004032708DOI: 10.3791/60817 View at publisher
- [Publication 3]: Afdile, M. (2026). Right amygdala synchronization and the risk of social rejection: A neurocinematic study using the Cinegraph. Leonardo, 59(2), 171–177.
DOI: 10.1162/LEON.a.2632 View at publisher
- [Publication 4]: Afdile, M. (2022). Beyond Neurocinematics: Investigating Biased Social Perception through Collaboration between Neuroscience and Filmmaking. Leonardo, 55(3), 278–282.
DOI: 10.1162/LEON_A_02199 View at publisher
- [Publication 5]: Afdile, M. (2023). The Prospect of Art-Science Interplay in Filmmaking as Research: From Abstract to Implicit Film. Leonardo, 56(5), 521-526.
DOI: 10.1162/LEON_A_02396 View at publisher