Shifts in Narrative Perspectives Consume Attentional Resources and Facilitate Reading Engagement

Abstract

ABSTRACT Purpose The use of attentional resources is an important cognitive indicator of reading engagement but it is unknown how this is influenced by linguistic cues. We designed two experiments to investigate whether shifts in narrative perspectives occupy more of the attention of readers and engage them more in the text. Methods Experiment 1 employed a dual-task paradigm to explore how shifts in narrative perspective influence the attention that readers allocate to the text. Experiment 2 used the same methods but replaced sentences with whole chapters to examine the effects of shifted perspectives on readers’ ability to allocate attention and engage in reading. Results Experiment 1 found that shifts in perspective delayed the participants’ responses to the tones. Experiment 2 found that perspective shifts enhanced the participants’ self-reported attentional focus and overall reading engagement. The results of Experiment 1 were not replicated by Experiment 2 but both experiments found that attentional engagement was deeper at the initial than the later stage of reading. Conclusion Perspective shifts in novels constitute valid language cues that can fully utilize readers’ attentional resources and improve their engagement in reading. Attentional resources play a more important role when readers initially process texts than at later stages.