Public defence in New Media, MFA Mamdooh Afdile

Filmmaking and the implicit perceptual loop: when prior knowledge shapes how we watch and make films

Films do not affect all viewers in the same way. What we see in a film is shaped by what we bring to it: prior knowledge, beliefs, identity, memories and social experience. This doctoral thesis examines that implicit perceptual loop: how social perception can shape film perception, and how filmmakers may use awareness of this loop to rethink representation and bias.

The research brings together filmmaking, cognitive film theory, social neuroscience and practice-based artistic research. It investigates cognitive penetration, the idea that perception can be influenced by prior knowledge and experience. In the context of cinema, this means asking how a film’s narrative and images interact with the viewer’s existing assumptions, and how those assumptions may influence responses to characters and social groups.

The thesis includes five peer-reviewed studies, two artistic works and two new methods for studying implicit social perception through film. It examines whether knowledge acquired through a film can bias implicit responses to a protagonist, whether such effects can be studied with neuroscientific methods, and how a filmmaker’s dramaturgical expertise can help interpret brain data collected during film viewing.

The main contribution is to place the filmmaker inside the question of perception. The filmmaker is not treated only as someone who creates material for scientific experiments, but as a practitioner whose choices, expertise and prior knowledge are part of the same perceptual loop. The thesis introduces Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement and the Cinegraph as tools for investigating and interpreting implicit social perception through film. It also presents two artistic films as case studies of scientifically informed filmmaking, exploring how research on implicit perception, ambiguity and social bias can be translated into creative practice.

The findings are relevant to film studies, neuroscience, artistic research and media education. They suggest that collaboration between filmmakers and scientists can help filmmakers become more aware of how creative choices may reinforce or challenge biased representations of social groups. The thesis therefore contributes to evidence-informed filmmaking and to a more reflective understanding of the social responsibility of moving images.

Title of the thesis: Filmmaking Practice Through a Cognitive Penetration Lens:
A Practitioner’s Inquiry into Implicit Social Perception

Thesis defender: Mamdooh Afdile
Opponent: Prof. Semir Zeki, University College London, UK
Custos: Prof. Lily Díaz-Kommonen,Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture