Mind-Reading Abilities: Reading fiction to improve our Theory of Mind

We are introduced to the world of fiction at a young age through children’s books and graphic novels. These books create new scenarios and imaginary characters, building a new world around us full of different emotions. Then, as soon as we “grow up,” we are told to put them away. They are considered childish and non-educational, unlike non-fiction and classical literature. However, according to an article published in Harvard Business Review, reading fiction provides different and very important cognitive benefits beyond the knowledge typically gained from reading nonfiction [1]. Fiction allows people to empathize with others and improve Theory of Mind which scaffolds interpersonal skills that play a significant role in our daily lives. The neurological and cognitive effects of reading fiction need to be thoroughly discussed so that society does not miss out on these important benefits to Theory of Mind. 

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to understand that people have “minds” that hold beliefs, desires, and intentions. Having well-developed ToM helps us predict the behavior of others [2]. For example, we can predict that if someone is hungry,  they will probably reach for food [2]. In experimental settings, researchers use a paradigm called the False Belief task to test people’s ability to predict what another person would do in a hypothetical scenario [2, 3]. Most children around age 3 and 4 can pass these tasks. Neurotypical adults excell at false belief tasks, and they are often used during neuroimaging studies to activate brain regions associated with ToM in the scanner [4]. A more advanced type of ToM  involves the ability to understand what another person believes (“cognitive ToM”) or feels (“affective ToM”). Affective ToM is often also referred to as “cognitive empathy,” that is, knowing how someone feels. For example, if someone is frowning, we might infer that they are feeling sad or upset. In experimental settings, affective ToM  is tested with many tasks, including emotion-recognition tasks, where participants are asked to identify emotions based on pictures of facial expressions or written scenarios, such task is the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RMET) [5]. Having well-developed ToM skills can greatly improve our ability to navigate all kinds of interpersonal situations in our lives. But even in adulthood, individuals show different levels of ToM skills [6].

Recent research suggests that reading fiction is associated with increased ToM abilities. While reading fiction, people need to use deductive skills and access their imaginative minds, which has shown to improve performance in ToM tasks such as recognizing facial expressions on the RMET [7]. Further research conducted by Black and Barnes indicated that on the RMET, the score was significantly higher for fiction readers and may be linked to the overall enhanced cognitive performance [8].  Fiction encourages unconventional ideologies which forces readers to use their critical thinking skills so they can better understand the language being used [9]. This forces readers to use their critical thinking skills so they can better understand the language being used. It also adds to the depth of an individual’s knowledge and allows for a richer understanding of the world. Along with insightfulness, social sensitivity can increase with fiction as people are more likely to be more honest and open minded when dealing with unfamiliar issues [1]. Research has also indicated that people on the autism spectrum tend to do worse in ToM tasks; they tend to prefer nonfiction over fiction due to the expected, realistic scenarios that are easier to comprehend [8].

Fiction, with its vivid scenarios and emotion conveying dialogues, allows people to experience and process the world through books. Researchers found that when listening to fiction, some participants showed more activation in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex, which is a region of the brain associated with ToM [10]. In the study conducted by Nijhof and Willems, participants listened to 4 to 8 minutes excerpts from novels as fMRI data was collected and the results indicated that there might be a more individualistic twist to how people interact with fiction; some people are more likely to activate motor regions of their brain than mentalizing/ToM regions when engaging with fiction.

ToM perception also allows for empathy, the ability to understand and share others’ feelings. Research has indicated that reading fiction allows for increased empathy [11]. Researchers Stansfield and Bunz conducted a study in Oxford Brooks University in UK, in which participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire before and after reading a fictional short story [11]. There were multiple post-measures such as a Transportation index, used to measure how engaged the readers felt, and RME and an Affective Empathy index, used to understand the cognitive and affective empathy induced by the story [11]. Their article concludes that “there is an important link between the empathy felt for fictional characters and the ability to empathize with people in reality.” [11]. A study conducted by researchers Bal and Vetkamp asked readers to answer questions that could help measure emotion transportation and empathy, on Davis’ empathy scale [12]. The data was used to perform factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis to find that fictional readers experienced more empathy while reading an emotionally transporting piece of literature [12]. Another study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, had found that there is a positive correlation between exposure to fiction and performance in social ability tasks along with empathy measures such as RMET, Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and Interpersonal Perception Task-15 [13]. The perceptions task contained videos of unscripted scenarios between people, where inferences regarding posture and explicit information such as the child in the scenario were asked to be identified, all accounting for social skills [13].

Behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests an association between fiction reading and ToM. There has also been a strong correlation with empathy, which is an essential interpersonal skill. Reading fiction might be an effective way to redevelop our social skills that suffered due to the pandemic.

References:

1. Seifert, C. (2020, May 28). The case for reading fiction. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2020/03/the-case-for-reading-fiction 

2. Perera, A. (2020, August 7). Theory of mind. Theory of Mind | Simply Psychology. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/theory-of-mind.html 

3. Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., & Watson, J. (2001). Meta‐analysis of theory‐of‐mind development: The truth about false belief. Child development, 72(3), 655-684.

4. Dodell-Feder, D., Koster-Hale, J., Bedny, M., & Saxe, R. (2011). fMRI item analysis in a theory of mind task. neuroimage, 55(2), 705-712.

5. Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 42(2), 241–251.

6. Stewart, S. L., & Kirkham, J. A. (2020). Predictors of individual differences in emerging adult theory of mind. Emerging Adulthood, 2167696820926300.

7. Kidd, D. C., & Castano, E. (2013, October 3). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science. Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1239918 

8. Black, J. E., & Barnes, J. L. (2015). The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition. Poetics, 52, 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2015.07.001 

9. Hollis, H. (2021). Readers’ experiences of fiction and nonfiction influencing critical thinking. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006211053040

10. Nijhof, A. D., & Willems, R. M. (2015). Simulating fiction: individual differences in literature comprehension revealed with FMRI. PloS one, 10(2), e0116492. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0116492

11. Stansfield, J., & Bunce, L. (2014). The Relationship Between Empathy and Reading Fiction: Separate Roles for Cognitive and Affective Components. Journal of European Psychology Students, 5(3), 9–18. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/jeps.ca

12. Bal, P. M., & Veltkamp, M. (2013, January 30). How does fiction reading influence empathy? an experimental investigation on the role of emotional transportation. PLOS ONE. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055341

13. Mar, R. A., Oatley, K., Hirsh, J., Paz, J. dela, & Peterson, J. B. (2005, September 15).