Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Gerrig, Richard J. | Franklin, Nancy | Leung, Hoi-Chung Scheckel, Susan
Date
2012-05-01
Keywords
Cognitive psychology | Fiction, Mental models, Narratives, Reading comprehension, Situation models
Department
Department of Experimental Psychology
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/71222
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
Narrative worlds often include features that would be implausible in the real world: Characters remain eternally youthful carpets can fly. For my dissertation, I conducted five experiments that demonstrated how the accessibility of knowledge specific to particular fictional worlds affects readers' comprehension of plausible and implausible events. In Experiment 1, participants were faster to read events that fit within narrative worlds (e.g. | bullets bouncing off Superman's chest), even when those events were implausible in the real world. In Experiment 2, participants read about familiar characters experiencing events that were either highly plausible (e.g. | Superman shooting lasers from his eyes), mildly implausible (e.g. | Superman hypnotizing a criminal with his eyes), or very implausible (e.g. | Superman turning a criminal to stone). Participants read the highly plausible events fastest. There were no significant differences in reading times between the mildly and very implausible events. The stories in Experiment 3 described ordinary characters (e.g. | a bank teller) in realistic or fantastic worlds (e.g. | Metropolis) experiencing realistic events (e.g. | being killed by bullets) or implausible events (e.g. | bullets bouncing off their chest). Participants were consistently slower to read about ordinary people experiencing implausible events, even within the context of fantasy worlds. In Experiment 4, participants read about ordinary characters, unfamiliar fantastic characters (e.g. | a native of Krypton), or familiar fantastic characters (e.g. | Superman) experiencing implausible events. Participants were slowest to read sentences containing an ordinary character, and there were no differences in reading times for sentences with the familiar and unfamiliar fantastic characters. In Experiment 5 participants read about the same characters from Experiment 4 experiencing realistic events. Participants were fastest for the unfamiliar ordinary characters, and equally slow for the familiar and unfamiliar fantastic characters. Taken together, these studies clarify how readers use their real-world knowledge, prior knowledge about a particular fictional world, and textual cues to assess the plausibility of events in narratives. | 45 pages
Recommended Citation
Foy, Jeffrey Evan, "Soaring Over Metropolis: How Readers Comprehend Realistic and Fantastic Stories" (2012). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 428.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/428