Prediction techniques of movie box office using neural networks and emotional mining.

Box office prediction is of great significance for understanding investment risks, class construction, promotion and distribution, and theater scheduling. However, due to the insufficient selection of influencing factors of movie box office, the currently existing prediction model restricts the prediction accuracy. A total of 34 influencing factors in 11 categories, such as heat index, movie types, release date, creators, first-day box office, were selected to study the prediction technology of movie box office. The Word2vec algorithm is used to construct a feature thesaurus for nouns in movie domain; adjectives and verbs with emotional coloring are used to construct an emotional dictionary based on the movie domain; and the TF-IDF algorithm is integrated to calculate the emotional scores of movie comments. A prediction method based on comments and Multivariate Linear Regression (MLR) is designed to analyze the relationship between the influencing factors and the movie box office, which provides an important basis for the prediction of the total box office, and also provides a decision-making reference for the movie industry and the related management departments. Incorporating comments as feature values to improve the accuracy, a prediction model based on comments and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is constructed. The results show that the average prediction accuracy of the MLR without comments, Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN), and CNN is 63.4%, 68.3%, and 71.9%, respectively, and after integrating the comments, the average prediction accuracy of the MLR and CNN is improved by 16.1% and 11.8%, respectively, and the prediction accuracy is significantly improved.

Identifying developmental changes in functional brain connectivity associated with cognitive functioning in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Youth diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often show deficits in various measures of higher-level cognition, such as, executive functioning. Poorer cognitive functioning in children with ADHD has been associated with differences in functional connectivity across the brain. However, little is known about the developmental changes to the brain's functional properties linked to different cognitive abilities in this cohort. To characterize these changes, we analyzed fMRI data (ADHD = 373, NT = 106) collected while youth between the ages of 6 and 16 watched a short movie-clip. We applied machine learning models to identify patterns of network connectivity in response to movie-watching that differentially predict cognitive abilities in our cohort. Using out-of-sample cross validation, our models successfully predicted IQ, visual spatial, verbal comprehension, and fluid reasoning in children (ages 6 - 11), but not in adolescents with ADHD (ages 12-16). Connections with the default mode, memory retrieval, and dorsal attention were driving prediction during early and middle childhood, but connections with the somatomotor, cingulo-opercular, and frontoparietal networks were more important in middle childhood. This work demonstrated that machine learning approaches can identify distinct functional connectivity profiles associated with cognitive abilities at different developmental stages in children and adolescents with ADHD.

Personalized movie recommendations based on probabilistic linguistic sentiment and integrated DEMATEL-TODIM methods.

With the development of society, online reviews are increasingly becoming a crucial factor in decision-making. Especially for entertainment products such as movies, they are preferred for their affordability and high entertainment factor. Therefore, this paper proposes a movie recommendation model that considers user personalization using a probabilistic linguistic approach based on online reviews. Firstly, the method constructs a quantitative sentiment framework that transforms comments into a multi-granular probabilistic sentiment language. Secondly, we build the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method for probabilistic linguistic environments to explore interrelationships between product attributes, and improve the distance measure and score function to better integrate probabilistic linguistic information into DEMATEL weight calculations. Furthermore, to account for risk preferences, the model employs the extended TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for interactive and multicriteria decision making) methodology to determine the ranking of alternatives. Finally, we design Douban movie ranking experiments to demonstrate the validity of the model. Compared with other methods, this paper incorporates the emotional tendency of movie attributes and user preference into the decision-making process leading to more reasonable results.

This is the End: The Role of Death in the Narrative Structure of Popular Movies.

A set of sixty popular movies is analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively on the role of death in the narrative structure and the portrayal of death. Results of the quantitative analysis show that death events tend to be story-terminating, which implies that death is typically depicted as meaningful in relation to the past. The qualitative thematic analysis reveals that death is also depicted as meaningful in that it can lead to growth, unification and salvation. Furthermore, most movies include explicit death portrayals, thereby inviting viewers to closely approach death and to simulate both their own mortality and the mortality of their loved ones. Finally, it was found that most movie deaths involve violent attacks, indicating that movies tend to paint an unrealistic view of how people die. These findings advance our knowledge of how movies might help people to understand the meaning of death and to cope with existential fears.

Inter- and intra-subject similarity in network functional connectivity across a full narrative movie.

Naturalistic paradigms, such as watching movies during functional magnetic resonance imaging, are thought to prompt the emotional and cognitive processes typically elicited in real life situations. Therefore, naturalistic viewing (NV) holds great potential for studying individual differences. Previous studies have primarily focused on using shorter movie clips, geared toward eliciting specific and often isolated emotions, while the potential behind using full narratives depicted in commercial movies as a proxy for real-life experiences has barely been explored. Here, we offer preliminary evidence that a full narrative movie (FNM), that is, a movie covering a complete narrative arc, can capture complex socio-affective dynamics and their links to individual differences. Using the studyforrest dataset, we investigated inter- and intra-subject similarity in network functional connectivity (NFC) of 14 meta-analytically defined networks across a full narrative, audio-visual movie split into eight consecutive movie segments. We characterized the movie segments by valence and arousal portrayed within the sequences, before utilizing a linear mixed model to analyze which factors explain inter- and intra-subject similarity. Our results show that the model best explaining inter-subject similarity comprised network, movie segment, valence and a movie segment by valence interaction. Intra-subject similarity was influenced significantly by the same factors and an additional three-way interaction between movie segment, valence and arousal. Overall, inter- and intra-subject similarity in NFC were sensitive to the ongoing narrative and emotions in the movie. We conclude that FNMs offer complex content and dynamics that might be particularly valuable for studying individual differences. Further characterization of movie features, such as the overarching narratives, that enhance individual differences is needed for advancing the potential of NV research.

Inter-subject gamma oscillation synchronization as a biomarker of abnormal processing of social interaction in ADHD.

Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties in social interactions. Studying brain activity during social interactions is difficult with conventional artificial stimuli. This pioneering study examined the neural correlates of social perception in children with ADHD and matched controls using naturalistic stimuli. We presented 20 children with ADHD and 20 age-and-sex-matched controls with tailored movies featuring high- or low-level social interactions while recording electroencephalographic signals. Both groups exhibited synchronized gamma-band oscillations, but controls demonstrated greater inter-subject correlations. Additionally, the difference in inter-subject correlations between high- and low-interaction movies was significantly larger in controls compared to ADHD patients. Between 55 and 75 Hz comparing viewing high interaction movies with low interaction moves, controls had a significantly larger weighting in the right parietal lobe, while ADHD patients had a significantly smaller weighting in the left occipital lobe. These findings reveal distinct spatiotemporal neural signatures in social interaction processing among children with ADHD and controls using naturalistic stimuli. These neural markers offer potential for group differentiation and assessing intervention efficacy, advancing our understanding ADHD-related social interaction mechanisms.

Assessing Seed Germination Response of Parasitic Plant Striga hermonthica with Small-Molecule Probes.

Seed germination of a parasitic plant Striga hermonthica is elicited by strigolactones which are exuded from roots of host plants. Here, we describe a high-throughput germination assay and a method for visualizing in vivo strigolactone receptor functions with a fluorogenic probe.

Heroes and villains: opposing narrative roles engage neural synchronization in the inferior frontal gyrus.

Neuroscientific studies have highlighted the role of the default mode network (DMN) in processing narrative information. Here, we examined whether the neural synchronization of the DMN tracked the appearances of protagonists and antagonists when viewing highly engaging, socially rich audiovisual narratives. Using inter-subject correlation analysis on two independent, publicly available movie-watching fMRI datasets, we computed whole-brain neural synchronization during the appearance of the protagonists and antagonists. Results showed that the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) had higher ISC values during the appearance of the protagonists than the antagonists. Importantly, these findings were generalized in both datasets. We discuss the results in the context of information integration and emotional empathy, which are relevant to functions of the IFG. Our study presents generalizable evidence that the IFG show distinctive synchronization patterns due to differences in narrative roles.

How movies move us - movie preferences are linked to differences in neuronal emotion processing of fear and anger: an fMRI study.

Introduction: As a source of audio-visual stimulation, movies expose people to various emotions. Interestingly, several genres are characterized by negative emotional content. Albeit theoretical approaches exist, little is known about preferences for specific movie genres and the neuronal processing of negative emotions. Methods: We investigated associations between movie genre preference and limbic and reward-related brain reactivity to close this gap by employing an fMRI paradigm with negative emotional faces in 257 healthy participants. We compared the functional activity of the amygdala and the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) between individuals with a preference for a particular movie genre and those without such preference. Results and discussion: Amygdala activation was relatively higher in individuals with action movie preference (p TFCE-FWE = 0.013). Comedy genre preference was associated with increased amygdala (p TFCE-FWE = 0.038) and NAcc activity (p TFCE-FWE = 0.011). In contrast, crime/thriller preference (amygdala: p TFCE-FWE ≤ 0.010, NAcc: p TFCE-FWE = 0.036), as well as documentary preference, was linked to the decreased amygdala (p TFCE-FWE = 0.012) and NAcc activity (p TFCE-FWE = 0.015). The study revealed associations between participants' genre preferences and brain reactivity to negative affective stimuli. Interestingly, preferences for genres with similar emotion profiles (action, crime/thriller) were associated with oppositely directed neural activity. Potential links between brain reactivity and susceptibility to different movie-related gratifications are discussed.

Graph Analysis of the Visual Cortical Network during Naturalistic Movie Viewing Reveals Increased Integration and Decreased Segregation Following Mild TBI.

Traditional neuroimaging methods have identified alterations in brain activity patterns following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), particularly during rest, complex tasks, and normal vision. However, studies using graph theory to examine brain network changes in mTBI have produced varied results, influenced by the specific networks and task demands analyzed. In our study, we employed functional MRI to observe 17 mTBI patients and 54 healthy individuals as they viewed a simple, non-narrative underwater film, simulating everyday visual tasks. This approach revealed significant mTBI-related changes in network connectivity, efficiency, and organization. Specifically, the mTBI group exhibited higher overall connectivity and local network specialization, suggesting enhanced information integration without overwhelming the brain's processing capabilities. Conversely, these patients showed reduced network segregation, indicating a less compartmentalized brain function compared to healthy controls. These patterns were consistent across various visual cortex subnetworks, except in primary visual areas. Our findings highlight the potential of using naturalistic stimuli in graph-based neuroimaging to understand brain network alterations in mTBI and possibly other conditions affecting brain integration.

Mapping brain function in adults and young children during naturalistic viewing with high-density diffuse optical tomography.

Human studies of early brain development have been limited by extant neuroimaging methods. MRI scanners present logistical challenges for imaging young children, while alternative modalities like functional near-infrared spectroscopy have traditionally been limited by image quality due to sparse sampling. In addition, conventional tasks for brain mapping elicit low task engagement, high head motion, and considerable participant attrition in pediatric populations. As a result, typical and atypical developmental trajectories of processes such as language acquisition remain understudied during sensitive periods over the first years of life. We evaluate high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) imaging combined with movie stimuli for high resolution optical neuroimaging in awake children ranging from 1 to 7 years of age. We built an HD-DOT system with design features geared towards enhancing both image quality and child comfort. Furthermore, we characterized a library of animated movie clips as a stimulus set for brain mapping and we optimized associated data analysis pipelines. Together, these tools could map cortical responses to movies and contained features such as speech in both adults and awake young children. This study lays the groundwork for future research to investigate response variability in larger pediatric samples and atypical trajectories of early brain development in clinical populations.

Network-wise analysis of movie-specific information in dynamic functional connectivity using COBE.

Movie watching during functional magnetic resonance imaging has emerged as a promising tool to measure the complex behavior of the brain in response to a stimulus similar to real-life situations. It has been observed that presenting a movie (sequence of events) as a stimulus will lead to a unique time course of dynamic functional connectivity related to movie stimuli that can be compared across the participants. We assume that the observed dynamic functional connectivity across subjects can be divided into following 2 components: (i) specific to a movie stimulus (depicting group-level behavior in functional connectivity) and (ii) individual-specific behavior (not necessarily common across the subjects). In this work, using the dynamic time warping distance measure, we have shown the extent of similarity between the temporal sequences of functional connectivity while the underlying movie stimuli were same and different. Further, the temporal sequence of functional connectivity patterns related to a movie is enhanced by suppressing the subject-specific components of dynamic functional connectivity using common and orthogonal basis extraction. Quantitative analysis using the F-ratio measure reveals significant differences in dynamic functional connectivity within the somatomotor network and default mode network, as well as between the occipital network and somatomotor networks.

"He is just Ken:" deconstructing hegemonic masculinity in Barbie (2023 Movie).

Scholars have consistently explored Barbie in various contexts, often subjecting it to critical analysis. However, the release of the Barbie 2023 Movie has shifted our focus from Barbie to Ken, marking the first occasion when Barbie has provided a platform for exploring representations of masculinity both in the patriarchal society and in popular culture. This article aims to investigate how the 2023 Barbie movie deconstructs symbols of hegemonic and toxic masculinity and its performative aspects within the framework of (post)feminist discourse. It examines how the movie satirically employs symbols of traditional, hegemonic masculinity to challenge normative masculine ideals prevalent in our patriarchal society. The movie -through its popularity- significantly contributes to mainstream postfeminist media culture, creating a platform where discussions on masculinity, its associated crises, and the broader gender wars, along with their existential ramifications, become unavoidable. Exploring the ways masculinities are problematized and contested within postfeminist media culture, I argue that Ken, within this narrative, is positioned as the latest icon of postfeminist masculinity, symbolizing a critical juncture in the ongoing discourse on gender roles and identities.

Perspective: Barbie: Food for the Soul or Fanciful Nostalgia?

This perspectives piece analyzes the "Barbie" movie and its impact on its viewership. In contrast to prior research demonstrating that images of Barbie objectified girls, lowered self-esteem, and promoted body dysmorphia, with social media focus on "Fitspiration" as well as "Thinspiration" amplifying the negative effect, the Barbie movie may have more positive impact than one might predict. As gleaned from an informal survey of patients, parents, and peers, the messages of the Barbie movie include a mix of body positivity, recognition of the impact of depression and other aspects of mental health, critique of the perceived societal patriarchy, and a message of empowerment for girls, females, and people otherwise unrecognized.

Effects of self-avatar cast shadow and foot vibration on telepresence, virtual walking experience, and cybersickness from omnidirectional movie.

Human locomotion is most naturally achieved through walking, which is good for both mental and physical health. To provide a virtual walking experience to seated users, a system utilizing foot vibrations and simulated optical flow was developed. The current study sought to augment this system and examine the effect of an avatar's cast shadow and foot vibrations on the virtual walking experience and cybersickness. The omnidirectional movie and the avatar's walking animation were synchronized, with the cast shadow reflecting the avatar's movement on the ground. Twenty participants were exposed to the virtual walking in six conditions (with/without foot vibrations and no/short/long shadow) and were asked to rate their sense of telepresence, walking experience, and occurrences of cybersickness. Our findings indicate that the synchronized foot vibrations enhanced telepresence as well as self-motion, walking, and leg-action sensations, while also reducing instances of nausea and disorientation sickness. The avatar's cast shadow was found to improve telepresence and leg-action sensation, but had no impact on self-motion and walking sensation. These results suggest that observation of the self-body cast shadow does not directly improve walking sensation, but is effective in enhancing telepresence and leg-action sensation, while foot vibrations are effective in improving telepresence and walking experience and reducing instances of cybersickness.

Suicidal Behavior in Nepali motion pictures of three decades (1990-2020): A content analysis.

BACKGROUND: Assessment of the depiction of suicidal behavior in motion pictures would reveal the social representation of suicide that would foster suicide prevention in a country. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess how suicidality has been depicted in Nepali movies by scrutinizing their contents against the sociodemographic checklist and WHO media guidelines for suicidal reporting. METHODS: This is a narrative quantitative analysis of suicidal behavior portrayals in the Nepali motion pictures that are publicly and freely accessible. RESULTS: Overall, out of the 573 scrutinized movies, we found ten movies consisting of 11 characters (i.e., the prevalence is 1.75%) showing suicidal behavior. The majority of suicidal behavior was seen in males 6 (54.5%), and the majority of attempters were students 3 (27.3%) or homemakers 2 (18.2%). Suicidal behavior was mostly observed in unmarried people 6 (54.5%). Hanging was the most prevalent method (45.5%), and home (36.4%) and public places (36.4%) were equally the most frequent places of attempt. The consequential risk factors for the attempts were found to be marital problems/premarital affairs (50%), followed by unfulfilled demand/conflict (30%). While all 11 items depicted the method and place of the attempt, two also depicted the complete scene of the attempt. One item used language that normalized suicide as a constructive solution to the problem. None of the pictures publicized any mental health messages or educated the public about suicide prevention. CONCLUSIONS: The minimal adherence of the Nepali motion pictures on the depictions of suicidality with WHO media guidelines indicates urgent need to create awareness among the Nepali film fraternity.

Discrepancy of social cognition between bipolar disorders and major depressive disorders.

BACKGROUND: The research landscape examining social cognition (SC) impairment in patients with major depressive disorders (MDD) and bipolar disorders (BD) is notably scarce. Presently, assessments predominantly rely on static stimuli and self-reported measures, which may not capture the dynamic dimensions of social cognition. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to validate the Chinese version of Movie Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC-CH) and to investigate whether MDD and BD exhibit distinct patterns of SC impairments, shedding light on potential differences between these two mood disorders. METHODS: The study encompassed 197 participants, aged 18-65, distributed as follows: 21 BD, 20 MDD, and 156 healthy controls (HC). We focused on examining "cognitive" and "emotional" SC scores and "undermentalizing" and "overmentalizing" error patterns, with nonsocial inference as a control. Additional assessments included the Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). We also explored the association between depression severity (measured by the Hamilton Depressive Rating Scale, HDRS) and distinct SC dimensions between MDD and BD. RESULTS: The MASC-CH exhibited strong validity and reliability for SC assessment. In group comparisons, BD participants scored significantly lower on MASC-CH, while the MDD group scores were not significantly different from HC. Specifically, BD individuals had notably lower cognitive SC scores and made more undermentalizing and absence of mentalizing errors than MDD and HC. Additionally, a negative correlation between HDRS score and overmentalizing was observed in BD, not in the MDD. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that depression severity scores in BD were inversely related to MASC-CH scores. In contrast, this relationship was not observed in the MDD group. These results underscore the importance of SC impairments as distinguishing characteristics of both BD and MDD. It provides valuable insights into the distinct social-cognitive profiles of both mood disorders.

Comparison of Graph Distance Measures for Movie Similarity Using a Multilayer Network Model.

Graph distance measures have emerged as an effective tool for evaluating the similarity or dissimilarity between graphs. Recently, there has been a growing trend in the application of movie networks to analyze and understand movie stories. Previous studies focused on computing the distance between individual characters in narratives and identifying the most important ones. Unlike previous techniques, which often relied on representing movie stories through single-layer networks based on characters or keywords, a new multilayer network model was developed to allow a more comprehensive representation of movie stories, including character, keyword, and location aspects. To assess the similarities among movie stories, we propose a methodology that utilizes a multilayer network model and layer-to-layer distance measures. We aim to quantify the similarity between movie networks by verifying two aspects: (i) regarding many components of the movie story and (ii) quantifying the distance between their corresponding movie networks. We tend to explore how five graph distance measures reveal the similarity between movie stories in two aspects: (i) finding the order of similarity among movies within the same genre, and (ii) classifying movie stories based on genre. We select movies from various genres: sci-fi, horror, romance, and comedy. We extract movie stories from movie scripts regarding character, keyword, and location entities to perform this. Then, we compute the distance between movie networks using different methods, such as the network portrait divergence, the network Laplacian spectra descriptor (NetLSD), the network embedding as matrix factorization (NetMF), the Laplacian spectra, and D-measure. The study shows the effectiveness of different methods for identifying similarities among various genres and classifying movies across different genres. The results suggest that the efficiency of an approach on a specific network type depends on its capacity to capture the inherent network structure of that type. We propose incorporating the approach into movie recommendation systems.

Prediction of individual brain age using movie and resting-state fMRI.

Brain age is a promising biomarker for predicting chronological age based on brain imaging data. Although movie and resting-state functional MRI techniques have attracted much research interest for the investigation of brain function, whether the 2 different imaging paradigms show similarities and differences in terms of their capabilities and properties for predicting brain age remains largely unexplored. Here, we used movie and resting-state functional MRI data from 528 participants aged from 18 to 87 years old in the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience data set for functional network construction and further used elastic net for age prediction model building. The connectivity properties of movie and resting-state functional MRI were evaluated based on the connections supporting predictive model building. We found comparable predictive abilities of movie and resting-state connectivity in estimating brain age of individuals, as evidenced by correlation coefficients of 0.868 and 0.862 between actual and predicted age, respectively. Despite some similarities, notable differences in connectivity properties were observed between the predictive models using movie and resting-state functional MRI data, primarily involving components of the default mode network. Our results highlight that both movie and resting-state functional MRI are effective and promising techniques for predicting brain age. Leveraging its data acquisition advantages, such as improved child and patient compliance resulting in reduced motion artifacts, movie functional MRI is emerging as an important paradigm for studying brain function in pediatric and clinical populations.

Investigation of time series-based genre popularity features for box office success prediction.

Predicting the profitability of movies at the early phase of production can be helpful to support the decision to invest in movies however, due to the limited information at this stage it is a challenging task to predict the movie's profitability. This study proposes genre popularity features using time series prediction. We argue that a movie can produce better box office returns if its genre's popularity is high at the time of release. The novel genre popularity features are proposed in terms of budget, revenue, frequency, success, and return on investment (ROI). The proposed features couple the predicted genre popularity with release time, in order to train the machine learning classifiers. The experimentation shows that the Gradient Boosting classifier gained a significant improvement using proposed features and achieved an accuracy of more than 92.4%, i.e., 35.7% better than an existing state of the art study considering a multi-class problem.