Scientific Study of Literature - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2020

In the present study, we sought to clarify how differences in contextualized experience influence the performance of participants engaged in genre decision-making. Using a simple learning algorithm, we ran a series of computational simulations to model the effects that context and cue competition have on the way readers of different backgrounds make genre decisions. Next, we used the results of those simulations as predictions for our behavioural genre decision experiment. Differences in test performance were strongly influenced by the factors that have long been known to influence learning: Cue competition and its embedding in a specific context jointly modulate what gets learned and that inevitably affects later performance. We discuss our findings in the context of learning and literary genres.

The current study investigates whether the mode of reading practice has an effect on the degree of readers’ empathic response to social drama, using Enda Walsh’s Chatroom (2015), tackling contemporary adolescents’ problems, as an experimental example. The experiment conducted in this paper hypothesizes that in contrast with casual reading, the conscious techniques of close reading are more effective in promoting participants’ empathic engagement with the dramatic text and improving their capacity of problem discovery and solution. Accordingly, the close reading of social drama can reinforce social integration and work as an antidote to the ostracism of one social group from their community. Moreover, the L2 students’ stimulated empathic response is translated into a written output which is richer in quantity and quality.

What is the impact of reading fiction? We analyze online Dutch book reviews to detect overall affective impact, narrative feelings, response to style and reflection. We create a set of rules that analyze the reviews and detect the impact aspects. We evaluate the detection by asking raters about the presence of these aspects in reviews and comparing these ratings to our detection. Interrater agreements are weak to moderate; however, there is a significant correlation between the model’s predictions for all impact aspects except reflection. The detected impact correlates with book genres in the way one would expect: Narrative feelings are highest for thrillers, and stylistic response is highest for literary books. We can thus estimate some aspects of the response books evoke in readers. Initial results suggest that the appreciation of style is linked to reflection in the reader. However, the concepts underlying the impact categories need further exploration.

Social cognition, the skillset involved in interpreting the cognitive and affective states of others, is essential for navigating the social world. Research has indicated that reading about fictional social content may support social cognitive abilities; however, the processes underpinning these effects remain unidentified. This study aimed to examine the effect of narrative engagement on social cognition. A text pretest (N = 11), a manipulation pilot (N = 29) and full experiment (N = 93) were conducted. In the full experiment, the manipulation failed to vary levels of narrative engagement (transportation, identification and affective empathy) with a passage from a popular fiction text. A correlation analysis revealed positive associations between narrative engagement dimensions and social cognition. An exploratory between-groups analysis comparing reading to no-reading found a significant gain in explicit mental state attribution in the reading group, when controlling for demographic and dispositional differences.

The present study develops an applied literariness study by exploring both the features, and the impact, of science fiction prototyping (SFP) on college students’ perceptions of disciplinary, or field-specific, writing. College students (N = 83), who were English (n = 35) or STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) majors (n = 48), composed micro-science fiction prototyping (µSFP), a genre that blends creative and science writing. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC2015) analysis demonstrated that, aside from a more positive average emotional tone, µSFP written fell psycho-linguistically between personal and science writing. English and STEM majors’ µSFP stories were similar in terms of analytical levels, clout, authenticity, emotional tone, and use of words. Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that, while English majors evaluated creative writing as significantly more relevant to their future career goals pre-intervention than did STEM majors (p = .04, r = .23), this difference vanished post-intervention. Additionally, while STEM majors evaluated science writing as significantly more worth their time to study (p = .042, r = .22) and relevant to their major (p = .01, r = .28) pre-intervention than did English majors, these differences disappeared post-intervention. Wilcoxon signed-ranks tests indicated that, while English majors’ ownership and evaluation of science and creative writing did not change, STEM majors’ evaluations of creative writing as relevant to their majors and future careers were significantly higher post-intervention (p = .015, r = .35)