Xu Xiaodong, Jia Cheng, Chen Kang, Chen Lijuan
School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Nanjing Normal University, 210097, Nanjing, China.
School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 210023, Nanjing, China.
NPJ Sci Learn. 2025 May 24;10(1):32. doi: 10.1038/s41539-025-00327-0.
This study used fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of supernatural fiction, featuring either fictional or realistic characters, compared to real-world stories. Participants' brain activations were recorded while they read supernatural/realistic scenarios. Results showed that reading supernatural scenarios activated sensorimotor and the related frontal regions, compared to reading realistic scenarios. Furthermore, reading supernatural texts with unexpected realistic characters resulted in additional brain activity in the left IFG, compared to reading supernatural texts with expected fictional characters. Mediation analyses indicated that the activation of the left sensorimotor cortex during the reading of supernatural scenarios is mediated by readers' social cognition. Moreover, there was increased functional connectivity among different brain regions within the simulation network, and between the simulation network and the social cognition network, during the understanding of supernatural narratives. These findings suggest that simulation is crucial for readers to comprehend and interpret supernatural stories.
本研究使用功能近红外光谱技术（fNIRS）来探究与现实世界故事相比，以虚构或现实角色为特色的超自然小说加工背后的神经机制。在参与者阅读超自然/现实场景时记录他们的大脑激活情况。结果显示，与阅读现实场景相比，阅读超自然场景会激活感觉运动及相关的额叶区域。此外，与阅读带有预期虚构角色的超自然文本相比，阅读带有意外现实角色的超自然文本会导致左侧额下回额外的大脑活动。中介分析表明，在阅读超自然场景时左侧感觉运动皮层的激活是由读者的社会认知介导的。此外，在理解超自然叙事过程中，模拟网络内不同脑区之间以及模拟网络与社会认知网络之间的功能连接增加。这些发现表明，模拟对于读者理解和解释超自然故事至关重要。
