Effects of Valence and Emotional Intensity on the Comprehension and Memorization of Texts

In the present study, we independently manipulated valence (positive, negative, or neutral) and emotional intensity (low, medium, or high), asking what impact they have on text comprehension (via surface, paraphrase, and inference questions) and memorization (via Remember/Know test) in adults. Results show that emotional contents, including valence and intensity affects comprehension. Emotional valence had a significant effect on text comprehension, with higher scores for positive and neutral texts than for negative ones. Participants scored higher on the surface questions for positive texts and on the inference questions for negative texts, with equivalent scores for paraphrase questions. Regarding emotional intensity, medium intensity generally fostered better comprehension of both positive and negative texts. High emotional intensity is beneficial for positively valenced texts, but hinders the understanding of negatively valenced ones. Regarding memorization, participants recalled more emotional words than neutral ones, and more words for positive texts than for either negative or neutral ones. In conclusion, our results show that emotions play an important role and improve the processing of information

IDEST: International Database of Emotional Short Texts

We introduce a database (IDEST) of 250 short stories rated for valence, arousal, and comprehensibility in two languages. The texts, with a narrative structure telling a story in the first person and controlled for length, were originally written in six different languages (Finnish, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish), and rated for arousal, valence, and comprehensibility in the original language. The stories were translated into English, and the same ratings for the English translations were collected via an internet survey tool (N = 573). In addition to the rating data, we also report readability indexes for the original and English texts. The texts have been categorized into different story types based on their emotional arc. The texts score high on comprehensibility and represent a wide range of emotional valence and arousal levels. The comparative analysis of the ratings of the original texts and English translations showed that valence ratings were very similar across languages, whereas correlations between the two pairs of language versions for arousal and comprehensibility were modest. Comprehensibility ratings correlated with only some of the readability indexes. The database is published in osf.io/9tga3, and it is freely available for academic research.This project was conducted as a part of E-READ COST action (IS1404). The first author received project funding from the Academy of Finland (decision number 334266). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Embodied reading : a study of bodily involvement in cognitive engagement

Le but de cette thèse est d’investiguer la notion d’engagement cognitif en lecture électronique et de proposer une méthode dans le but de le qualifier et le quantifier. Pour cela, nous avons mis en place une technique inédite couplant oculométrie et motion capture afin d’étudier la dynamique posturale des lecteurs durant la tâche de lecture.À travers cinq études menées dans le cadre de cette thèse nous avons pu constater que la dynamique posturale des lecteurs avait été sensible à leur engagement cognitif dans la lecture de textes manipulant la cohérence avec une tâche (expériences 1 & 2), le changement de référentiel narratif (expériences 3 & 4) ou encore des textes présentant une valence émotionnelle (expérience 5). Au cours de la lecture, l’engagement fluctue selon la pertinence du texte avec la tâche demandée et le but de la lecture, la difficulté d’intégration de l’information textuelle ou encore le caractère émotionnel que revêt le texte.Par ailleurs, nous avons pu montrer que cet engagement cognitif peut être de deux natures différentes, un engagement transitoire ayant la particularité d’être de courte durée, et un engagement soutenu et durable tout au long de la lecture. Enfin, dans le cas de la lecture d’un texte et de sa compréhension, une synergie entre posture et vision serait mise en place et traduite par une réduction des mouvements posturaux lors d’un engagement cognitif accru des lecteurs. Ces résultats soutiennent la vision incarnée de la cognition et apportent des éléments tangibles montrant que les mouvements du corps participent à l’émergence des processus cognitifs à l’œuvre durant la lecture.The aim of this thesis is to investigate the notion of cognitive engagement in electronic reading and to propose a method for the purpose of qualifying and quantifying it. For this, we have implemented a novel technique combining eye-tracking and motion capture in order to study the postural dynamics of readers during the reading task.Through five studies conducted as part of this thesis we have found that the postural dynamic of the readers was sensitive to their cognitive engagement in the reading of texts manipulating the coherence with a task (experiments 1 & 2), the change of narrative perspective (experiments 3 & 4) or texts with emotional valence (experiment 5). During the course of reading, the cognitive engagement fluctuates according to the relevance of the text, with the requested task and the purpose of the reading, the difficulty of integrating textual information or the emotional nature of the text.Moreover, we have been able to show that this cognitive engagement can be of two different types, a transient engagement having the particularity of being short-lived, and a sustained and lasting engagement throughout the reading. Finally, in the case of text reading a text and its understanding, a synergy between posture and vision would be set up and translated by a reduction of postural movements during an increased cognitive engagement of readers. These results support the embodied vision of cognition and provide tangible evidence that body movements participate in the emergence of cognitive processes during reading

Referential processing during reading: concurrent recordings of eye movements and head motion

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Cognitive engagement during reading on digital tablet: Evidence from concurrent recordings of postural and eye movements

Here you find the datafiles, R script and all the materials used in Ballenghein, U., Kaakinen, J. K., Tissier, G. & Baccino, T. (2020). Cognitive engagement during reading on digital tablet: Evidence from concurrent recordings of postural and eye movements. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Readme.docx contains information about the datasets and variables. Files fixation_time_data.txt, motion_capture_data.txt and recall_data.txt are the datasets used in the analyses. IPad_reading.R contains the R script. Text materials. pdf includes all the text materials used in the study: title page, instructions, the calibration scheme, and the text

Fluctuation in cognitive engagement during listening and reading of erotica and horror stories

This is a collaborative project between Ugo Ballenghein, Johanna K. Kaakinen, Geoffrey Tissier, and Thierry Baccino. The purpose of the study is to study how emotionally provoking text content influences cognitive engagement during listening and reading of literary texts

Effects of Valence and Emotional Intensity on the Comprehension and Memorization of Texts

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Cognitive engagement in emotional text reading: concurrent recordings of eye movements and head motion

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Capturing Expert Knowledge of Mushrooms

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Fluctuation in cognitive engagement during reading: Evidence from concurrent recordings of postural and eye movements.

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