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Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 9:2 (2019) ► pp.163–194

Virtual reality as a tool for promoting reading via enhanced narrative absorption and empathy

ORCID logo | University of Milan-Bicocca | Sogang University
ORCID logo | Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
| Tilburg University

Reading fiction is beneficial for various social skills, although reading has become less and less popular with younger generations. This study investigated whether reading a chapter of a fictional story in virtual reality (VR) can make the reading experience more appealing and increase intention to read the story further. A between-subject experiment (N = 83) was conducted to compare the effect of a printed book and a VR reading environment on narrative absorption, empathy with fictional characters, and intention to read. The results show that VR enhances intention to read, via a serial mediation of transportation into the story world and affective empathy. These findings indicate that VR can be effectively exploited for promoting reading.

Keywords: reading, virtual reality, narrative absorption, empathy, transportation, fiction
Article outline
  • Literature and virtual reality
  • Narrative absorption
    • Attentional focus
    • Transportation
    • Emotional engagement
    • Mental imagery
  • Empathy
  • Intention to read
  • Individual differences
  • Methods
    • Design
    • Participants
    • Research stimuli
    • Procedure
    • Measures
      • Narrative absorption
      • State empathy
      • Intention to read further
      • Controls
  • Results
    • Preliminary checks
    • Correlation analysis
    • Hypotheses testing
      • Effect of VR on SWA (H1), Empathy (H2) and Intention (H3)
      • Effect of VR on SWA subscales, Empathy subscales, and Intention to read
      • Mediation analysis (RQ3)
        • Three mediators (Mediation Model 1)
        • Two mediators with covariates (Mediation Model 2)
  • Discussion
    • Outlook and future research
    • Limitations
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 30 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.19013.pia
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