Are key moments just event boundaries?¶
Partly, but not entirely — and the usual way of comparing them cannot tell. Event boundaries are typically collected in real time, with a button press; key moments retrospectively, by picking frames. Construct and measurement method are confounded.
So we crossed them: a fully crossed 2 × 2 of construct (key moments vs. event boundaries) × procedure (real-time button press vs. retrospective storyboard selection).
Two things came out. The constructs are partially distinct — equated for task, people agreed more with each other within a construct than between them. And the procedure matters in its own right: which psychophysical method you use independently shapes how responses are organised in time, so the two paradigms are not interchangeable. They may tax partially nonoverlapping mechanisms, which makes methodological precision essential for mapping how we perceive and remember events.
Upadhyayula, Reagh & Zacks (under review). Preprint · Data & code · Key Moments visualization tool (access on request)