Negative / Null Result ReportOpen accessMedicine

Is reading fiction associated with a higher mind-reading ability? Two conceptual replication studies in Japan.

Yuka Takahashi; Toshiyuki Himichi; Ayumi Masuchi; Daisuke Nakanishi; Yohsuke Ohtsubo · 2023 · PLoS ONE

WASTE classifies this as Negative / Null Result Report · AI classification, approximate

The study found no significant effect — useful as a negative control or null benchmark for your own design.

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed that reading fiction is associated with dispositional empathy and theory-of-mind abilities. Earlier studies established a correlation between fiction reading habits and the two measures of social cognition: trait fantasy (i.e., the tendency to transpose oneself into fictitious characters) and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; a test of the ability to identify others' mental states based on their eyes). Recently, experimental studies have shown that brief exposure to fiction enhances RMET performance. Nevertheless, these studies have been

Abstract by Yuka Takahashi; Toshiyuki Himichi; Ayumi Masuchi; Daisuke Nakanishi; Yohsuke Ohtsubo, PLoS ONE (2023) — licensed CC BY 4.0.

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