Why Genre Matters: Scene Discontinuity, Event Boundaries, and Mind Wandering in Film Viewing

Mind wandering during film viewing can impede comprehension and learning,and prior studies have reported conflicting results regarding its occurrence atevent boundaries in narrative versus educational films. This study examineswhether scene discontinuity – changes in time, place, character, and action– affects mind wandering differently across film genres. Replicating previousfindings, we found that in the narrative film, less mind wandering occurred atevent boundaries compared to other parts of the film. Conversely, in the educationalfilm, more mind wandering was reported at event boundaries. Ouranalysis revealed that the narrative film exhibited higher scene discontinuityat event boundaries than the educational film. Importantly, across both filmtypes, greater scene discontinuity at event boundaries was associated withdecreased mind wandering. The differing levels of scene discontinuity betweennarrative and educational films may explain the contrasting patternsof mind wandering observed, highlighting the influence of film structure oncognitive engagement.