Embodied responses to drone-captured cinematography: a high-density EEG study

Since the discovery of the mirror mechanism, numerous studies have shown its crucial role in linking action execution and perception, emphasizing its importance in understanding others' behavior. This mechanism is thought to reflect an embodied simulative function that extends beyond real-life interactions to include mediated experiences, such as those evoked by cinematic techniques like camera movements. Within this framework, in 2014 Heimann et al. investigated the impact of camera movements on sensorimotor system activation, finding that steadicam videos elicited an Event-Related Desynchronization (ERD) of the mu rhythm, thus reflecting a motor resonance. Building on these findings, their 2019 study isolated the effects of different camera movements (still, zooming, Steadicam) by removing human agents from the videos, confirming the effectiveness of Steadicam in activating the sensorimotor cortex. More recently, in 2022 Kolesnikov et al. further explored this concept through a behavioral study that examined participants’ explicit responses regarding their sense of physical involvement while watching videos filmed with a drone-mounted camera. This perspective, although impossible to achieve through human movement, was able to evoke motor involvement, offering additional support for the theory of embodied simulation. In light of this evidence, we developed a novel experimental paradigm to explore whether drone-mounted cameras can elicit embodied responses similar to “flying Steadicams”. Two groups of participants were recruited: experienced drone pilots and naïve individuals with no prior piloting experience. High-density EEG was recorded while participants observed video clips depicting an empty staircase filmed by a drone under three conditions: Ascending, Descending and Still. Time-frequency analysis performed on naïve group revealed nonspecific ERD of the mu rhythm in both the alpha and beta bands over central regions, as well as differences in posterior areas, possibly reflecting distinct visuospatial processing of the scenes. We hypothesize that drone pilots will exhibit a more pronounced ERD over central regions in both alpha and beta bands, likely reflecting a sensorimotor modulation associated with motor expertise and familiarity with the drone’s point of view. These findings will be discussed in relation to the theoretical and empirical implications of drone-based cinematography, contributing to the ongoing debate on its potential to engage embodied cognitive processes.