Measuring psychological immersion through cardiovascular response measures in subtitled films

This paper presents a conceptual replication of Kruger et al.’s (2017a) study, investigating the utility of heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) indicators as objective measurements of psychological immersion in subtitled audiovisual products. The study employed a quasi-experimental design in ten participants viewing video clips with and without subtitles, while their physiological responses were monitored. Results suggest lower arousal levels in both conditions compared to baseline, with statistically significant differences observed in mean HR, mean RR, and RMSSD for the subtitles condition. While most inferential tests did not yield significant outcomes, descriptive trends indicate decreased arousal relative to the baseline. They also show increased arousal throughout the clip for most indicators and opposing trends for Mean HR, RMSSD and LF/HF between the two conditions. Methodological suggestions include using multiple data points for HR and HRV analysis, exploring ultra short-term measurements, selecting self-contained clips for viewing, and considering post-task baselines for a more accurate resting state representation. Despite limitations due to the small sample size, this study underscores the potential of HR and HRV as measures of immersion in translated audiovisual products, emphasising the need for larger sample sizes in future research to enhance statistical power and generalizability.