The effects of reading material on social and non-social cognition

• Replicated and extended the research of Kidd and Castano (2013).
• Cognitive abilities after reading fiction or nonfiction (Within Subjects design).
• Participants scored higher on a ToM task (RMET) after reading fiction.
• Non-social cognitive ability not affected by reading material.
• Past reading experience best predictor of social and non-social cognitive ability.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of reading material on both social and non-social cognition. Prior research supports the hypothesis that reading fiction improves theory of mind (Kidd and Castano, 2013, Mar et al., 2006 and Mar et al., 2009a); however, little has been done to test its effects on other cognitive abilities. In this study, we tested the effect of reading literary fiction vs. non-fiction on both theory of mind and intuitive physics understanding. In line with previous research, results indicate a small but significant within-subject effect of reading material on theory of mind once other variables are controlled. Although the experimental manipulation (literary fiction vs. nonfiction) had no effect on intuitive physics understanding, we found that familiarity with fiction predicted intuitive physics ability. These results are discussed in terms of theories of fiction.