Research in the intersections of literature, media, and psychology increasingly examines the absorbing story experiences of adult readers, typically relying on quantitative self-report ...questionnaires. Meanwhile, little work has been done to explore how being “lost in a book” is experienced by children, despite the phenomenon’s importance for literacy education. Such work requires tools that are more inductive and child-centered than questionnaires. We have conducted a Q methodology study with participants aged 9–12 (
n
= 28), exploring how it feels for them when the mind and body are attuned to a story and how different facets of absorption (e.g., mental imagery, emotional engagement) inform the experience. Participants numerically sorted 24 cards expressing inner states and expectations relating to book-length fiction reading and were subsequently interviewed regarding their sorting choices. The cards were generated inductively based on preliminary research (focus groups, individual interviews, observations). By-person factor analysis of the sortings combined with reflective thematic analysis of the post-sorting interviews revealed four distinct reader subjectivities, or perspectives: Growth, Confirmation, Attachment and Mental Shift. Crucially, the children in these groups differed as to prominent dimensions of absorption but also as to the overall place of reading in their inner and everyday lives. Based on the four perspectives, we demonstrate that children have varied ways of being absorbed when reading fiction, and reflect on the affordances of Q methodology as a suitable child-centered approach to studying the subjective experiences of reading.
The alleged crisis of the humanities is currently fueling renewed interest in the affective benefits of literary reading. Several quantitative studies have shown a positive correlation between ...literary reading and empathy. However, the literary nature of the stimuli used in these studies has not been defined at a more detailed, stylistic level. In order to explore the stylistic underpinnings of the hypothesized link between literariness and empathy, we conducted a qualitative experiment in which the degree of stylistic foregrounding was manipulated. Subjects (N = 37) read versions of Katherine Mansfield’s “The Fly,” a short story rich in foregrounding, while marking striking and evocative passages of their choosing. Afterwards, they were asked to select three markings and elaborate on their experiences in writing. One group read the original story, while the other read a ‘non-literary’ version, produced by an established author of suspense fiction for young adults, where stylistic foregrounding was reduced. We found that the non-literary version elicited significantly more (p < 0.01) explicitly empathic responses than the original story. This finding stands in contradiction to widely accepted assumptions in recent research, but can be assimilated in alternative models of literariness and affect in literary reading. We present an analysis of the data with a view to offering more than one interpretation of the observed effects of stylistic foregrounding.
Based on Kuzmičová's 1 phenomenological typology of narrative styles, we studied the specific contributions of mental imagery to literary reading experience and to reading behavior by combining ...questionnaires with eye-tracking methodology. Specifically, we focused on the two main categories in Kuzmičová's 1 typology, i.e., texts dominated by an "enactive" style, and texts dominated by a "descriptive" style. "Enactive" style texts render characters interacting with their environment, and "descriptive" style texts render environments dissociated from human action. The quantitative analyses of word category distributions of two dominantly enactive and two dominantly descriptive texts indicated significant differences especially in the number of verbs, with more verbs in enactment compared to descriptive texts. In a second study, participants read two texts (one theoretically cueing descriptive imagery, the other cueing enactment imagery) while their eye movements were recorded. After reading, participants completed questionnaires assessing aspects of the reading experience generally, as well as their text-elicited mental imagery specifically. Results show that readers experienced more difficulties conjuring up mental images during reading descriptive style texts and that longer fixation duration on words were associated with enactive style text. We propose that enactive style involves more imagery processes which can be reflected in eye movement behavior.
The place of the cognitive in literary studies Kukkonen, Karin; Kuzmičová, Anežka; Christiansen, Steen Ledet ...
Cogent arts & humanities,
20/1/1/, Letnik:
6, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Abstract
Experts on literature and pedagogy from a wide range of countries and traditions currently argue for including literary texts with diverse characters in the curriculum, in order to provide ...children with varied reading experiences and foster their outgroup empathy skills. In this article, our aim is twofold. Firstly, we contribute to the debate in question by examining how the inner states (emotions and cognition) of female and male characters are portrayed in a purposeful sample of 44 prose excerpts from Czech Year 3 reading anthologies. Secondly, we present an innovative procedure for analysing texts that allows for the exploration of a selection of literary texts as individual entities and at the same time their analysis as an aggregate whole. Our analyses show that female characters’ inner states tend to be underrepresented, especially regarding cognition. While we have not found significant differences in the overall quality of female characters’ inner states in comparison to their male counterparts, individual excerpts tend to strongly highlight the inner states of female or male characters, respectively, thus creating story worlds with a distinct female-vs-male orientation.
Keywords: software-assisted literary analysis, emotion, cognition, gender, reading anthologies
Resumen
Expertos literarios y educativos de diferentes países y tradiciones argumentan actualmente a favor de incluir textos literarios con personajes diversos en la enseñanza, con el fin de proporcionar a los niños y niñas experiencias de lectura variadas y fomentar sus habilidades de empatía hacia aquellos que son diferentes a ellos. En este artículo nuestro objetivo es doble. En primer lugar, contribuimos al debate en cuestión examinando cómo se representan los estados internos (emociones y cognición) de los personajes femeninos y masculinos en una muestra cuidadosamente seleccionada de 44 fragmentos en prosa de antologías de lectura del tercer año de Educación Primaria en la República Checa. En segundo lugar, presentamos un procedimiento innovador de análisis de texto que permite explorar una selección de textos literarios como entidades individuales, pero también su análisis
como un conjunto global. Nuestros análisis muestran que los estados internos de los personajes femeninos tienden a estar subrepresentados, especialmente en lo que respecta a la cognición. No hemos encontrado diferencias significativas en la calidad general de los estados internos de los personajes femeninos en comparación con los masculinos; sin embargo, los fragmentos individuales tienden a resaltar fuertemente los estados internos de personajes femeninos o masculinos respectivamente, creando así mundos narrativos distintos centrados en lo femenino o lo masculino.
Palabras clave: análisis literario asistido por software, emoción, cognición, género, antologías de lectura.
Resum
Experts literaris i educatius de diferents països i tradicions argumenten actualment a favor d’incloure textos literaris amb personatges diversos en l’ensenyament, amb la finalitat de proporcionar els infants experiències de lectura variades i fomentar les seues habilitats d’empatia cap als que en són diferents. En aquest article el nostre objectiu és doble. En primer lloc, contribuïm al debat en qüestió tot examinant com es representen els estats interns (emocions i cognició) dels personatges femenins i masculins en una mostra acuradament seleccionada de 44 fragments en prosa d’antologies de lectura del tercer any d’Educació Primària a la República Txeca. En segon lloc, presentem un procediment innovador d’anàlisi de text que permet explorar una selecció de textos literaris com a entitats individuals, però també la seua anàlisi com un conjunt global. Les nostres anàlisis mostren que els estats interns dels personatges femenins tendeixen a estar subrepresentats, especialment en allò que respecta a la cognició. No hem trobat diferències significatives en la qualitat general dels estats interns dels personatges femenins en comparació amb els masculins; tanmateix, els fragments individuals tendeixen a ressaltar fortament els estats interns de personatges femenins o masculins respectivament, tot creant així mons narratius distints centrats en allò femení o allò masculí.
Paraules clau: anàlisi literària assistida per software, emoció, cognició, gènere, antologies de lectura
The shift from print to screen has bodily effects on how we read. We distinguish two dimensions of embodied reading: the spatio-temporal and the imaginary. The former relates to what the body does ...during the act of reading and the latter relates to the role of the body in the imagined scenarios we create from what we read. At the level of neurons, these two dimensions are related to how we make sense of the world. From this perspective, we explain how the bodily activity of reading changes from print to screen. Our focus is on the decreased material anchoring of memories.
Although personal relevance is key to sustaining an audience’s interest in any given narrative, it has received little systematic attention in scholarship to date. Across centuries and media, ...adaptations have been used extensively to bring temporally or geographically distant narratives “closer” to the recipient under the assumption that their impact will increase. In this article, we review experimental and other empirical evidence on narrative processing in order to unravel which types of personal relevance are more likely to be impactful than others, which types of impact (e.g., aesthetic, therapeutic, persuasive) they have been found to generate, and where their power becomes excessive or outright detrimental to reader experience. Together, the evidence suggests that narratives are read through the lens of the reader’s self-schema independently of genre, although certain groups of readers, especially in certain situations, may experience personal relevance and related effects more strongly than others. The literature further suggests that large-scale similarities between reader and character (e.g., gender) may not per se be enough for relevance effects to arise and that emotional valence has a role to play in the process alongside thematic saliency.
While language use in general is currently being explored as essentially situated in immediate physical environment, narrative reading is primarily regarded as a means of decoupling one's ...consciousness from the environment. In order to offer a more diversified view of narrative reading, the article distinguishes between 3 different roles the environment can play in the reading experience. Next to the traditional notion that environmental stimuli disrupt attention, the article proposes that they can also serve as a prop for mental imagery and/or a locus of pleasure more generally. The latter 2 perspectives presuppose a more clear‐cut distinction between consciousness and attention than typically assumed in the communication literature. The article concludes with a list of implications for research and practice.
Drawing on research in narrative theory and literary aesthetics, text and discourse processing, phenomenology and the experimental cognitive sciences, this paper outlines an embodied theory of ...presence (i.e., the reader's sense of having entered a tangible environment) in the reading of literary narrative. Contrary to common assumptions, it is argued that there is no straightforward relation between the degree of detail in spatial description on one hand, and the vividness of spatial imagery and presence on the other. It is also argued that presence arises from a first-person, enactive process of sensorimotor simulation/resonance, rather than from mere visualizing from the perspective of a passive, third-person observer. In sections 1 to 3, an inter-theoretical argument is presented, proposing that presence may be effectively cued by explicit (or strongly implied) references to object-directed bodily movement. In section 4, an attempt is made at explaining which ways of embedding such references in the narrative may be particularly productive at eliciting presence.
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