Experimental Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
Audible, London, UK.
Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 9;10(1):11298. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-68253-2.
Stories play a fundamental role in human culture. They provide a mechanism for sharing cultural identity, imparting knowledge, revealing beliefs, reinforcing social bonds and providing entertainment that is central to all human societies. Here we investigated the extent to which the delivery medium of a story (audio or visual) affected self-reported and physiologically measured engagement with the narrative. Although participants self-reported greater involvement for watching video relative to listening to auditory scenes, stronger physiological responses were recorded for auditory stories. Sensors placed at their wrists showed higher and more variable heart rates, greater electrodermal activity, and even higher body temperatures. We interpret these findings as evidence that the stories were more cognitively and emotionally engaging at a physiological level when presented in an auditory format. This may be because listening to a story, rather than watching a video, is a more active process of co-creation, and that this imaginative process in the listener's mind is detectable on the skin at their wrist.
故事在人类文化中起着至关重要的作用。它们提供了一种分享文化认同、传授知识、揭示信仰、强化社会纽带和提供娱乐的机制，而娱乐是所有人类社会的核心。在这里，我们研究了故事的呈现媒介（音频或视频）对自述和生理测量的叙事参与度的影响。尽管参与者报告说观看视频相对于听音频场景更有参与感，但对听觉故事的生理反应更强。放置在手腕上的传感器显示出更高且更可变的心率、更大的皮肤电活动，甚至更高的体温。我们将这些发现解释为证据，即当以听觉形式呈现故事时，故事在认知和情感上更具吸引力。这可能是因为听故事而不是看视频是一种更积极的共同创造过程，而听众在脑海中的这种想象过程可以在他们手腕的皮肤上检测到。
