Princeton University psychology professor Uri Hasson coined the term "neurocinematics" based on an fMRI study, in which he concluded that certain types of films (e.g. horror, action, sci-fi) produced high activation scores in the amygdala region of viewer subjects' brains, the part that controls disgust, anger, lust, and fear. Hasson asserted that horror filmmakers can potentially control viewers' brains by precisely editing their films to maximize amygdalic excitement and thus "control for" buzz and success at the theater.

Studies like Banks' have gotten the attention of 3D film and hardware makers, said USC's Lelyveld. Studios, gaming publishers, and electronics makers are consulting vision scientists to help reduce these kinds of complaints. Variety called this growing field of study "neurocinematics" recently.

We pro- pose that ISC may be useful to film studies by providing a quantitative neuro- scientific assessment of the impact of different styles of filmmaking on viewers’ brains, and a valuable method for the film industry to better assess its prod- ucts. Finally, we suggest that this method brings together two separate and largely unrelated disciplines, cognitive neuroscience and film studies, and may open the way for a new interdisciplinary field of "neurocinematic" studies….

These and other studies may provide the emerging field of neurocinematics with new tools for studying different aspects of films and filmmaking.