Neurodivergence, foregrounding, and narrative empathy: A study on readers’ responses to textual manipulation

Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon was first published as a short story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1959. After the story successfully elicited critical acclaim and brought literary awards to its author, Keyes expanded the story into a novel that was first published in 1966. Daniel Keyes recounts the saddening story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded thirty-two-year-old man, who is chosen by scientists for an experiment that would supposedly improve one’s mental capacity in a short time span. The experiment gradually proves to be successful as Charlie’s mental health improves. Yet, as Charlie turns unexpectedly very intelligent and cultured, reaching the ability to speak several languages including Latin, he finds out that the experiment he has been through brings a temporary state of mental well-being to the subject who would quickly return to one’s initial mental state. This purpose of paper is to discuss the concept of healing and well-being and question whether being well is an ideological or medical concept in terms of madness and civilization from the perspective of Foulcault who sees madness in a certain cultural space in society which the position and definition of “healthy” individuals depend on.

Narrative empathy, broadly understood as the sharing of characters’ perspective and emotional experiences, is thought to be often involved in readers’ engagement with characters. A number of claims have been made in the literature about the potential effects of particular narrative techniques on readerly experiences of empathy. However, most of these discussions are based on narratological hypotheses, and empirical work in the area has been rather thin. This study seeks to understand the role of textual, but also readerly, factors in readers’ empathetic (or otherwise) engagement with characters. I take a qualitative linguistic approach that combines stylistic-narratological textual analysis and empirical reader-response research. I analyse some short stories by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, and focus on narrative techniques which have been regarded as being somehow involved in either empathetic or non-empathetic reader responses ― point of view, speech and thought presentation, emotion presentation, and characterisation techniques. I also consider readerly factors such as contextual appraisal (including moral evaluation) and the reader-character relationship. The empathy potential of these textual and non-textual phenomena is then considered in the light of what readers report. I conducted two focus group discussions with readers who shared their experiences of the characters after reading three stories. Through thematic analysis (using Atlas.ti), I relate readers’ self-reported involvement with characters to insights from textual analysis and scholarly claims. While my findings support some of the assumptions in the literature, they also problematise some claims about the direct effects of textual cues. I argue for a nuanced approach that accommodates the interaction between textual and readerly phenomena, and conclude that narrative empathy is a highly flexible and context-dependent phenomenon given the complex interplay between textual and readerly factors. The main contributions of the study are to do with (i) the value of the focus on language (a stylistically-informed approach to the stimulus texts and a linguistically-aware approach to readers’ responses), (ii) the gathering of empirical data on readers’ responses through focus groups, and (iii) the in-depth qualitative analysis of these responses, whereby I map out the complex interplay between textual and readerly factors, and develop a typology of potential linguistic evidence of empathetic responses.

A Review of <i>The Rise of the Australian Neurohumanities</i>

There are two main objectives of this paper. The first one, more general and partly liter- ary-theoretical, is to show, within the author’s wider study of narrative empathy and using Andrić’s short story “Aska and the Wolf ” as an example, that what is important for this concept is not whether it deals with documentary or fictional stories, but whether the author has and by which means convinced us of the life truthfulness they convey, that is, whether the aesthetic form and the represented experience of his characters have and to what extent activated neuro- logical regions of the readers responsible for empathy. A methodological approach to “the text as world” is equally applicable to both fictional and documentary narration since the worlds are essentially imaginary in both cases. Reality represents a framework for understanding textual universes; likewise the world of fiction can be a telescope for understanding reality. The second objective of this paper is linked to this: to finally ask the question why the shepherds, i.e. why Andrić had to kill the wolf. The destiny of the wolf – not only in this sto- ry-parable where narrative empathy is an excuse for the cruel hand of justice – becomes para- digmatic for one view of the world in which there is no forgiveness and redemption for a mur- derer. If the writer had allowed art to win over the evil in the wolf, if he had left the wolf alive, the short story would have definitely become multilayered, but it would have betrayed that view of the world and the empathic-altruistic expectations of the victim. But would it betray a “naive reader”, who it is meant for? Our answer is that it would not since it turned out that that youngest reader is not as naive as it might seem at first sight and that narrative empathy represents above all and before all a reader’s response to the cry for humanity.

This essay explores the ethics and aesthetics of George Saunders’s work, and particularly the ways in which his short stories engage the reader in a compassionate relation with the characters. It investigates how Saunders employs a number of narrative techniques to enable an imaginative perspective-shifting that may have a long-term bearing on the reader’s ethical decisions. Drawing on recent theorizing on “narrative empathy,” I argue that despite his inclination toward satire and postmodernist playfulness, Saunders’s style is foremost motivated by his aim to achieve compassion and intersubjective understanding. Saunders’s version of narrative empathy strips off the habitual and thereby makes us sensitive to the experiences and perspectives of others. Taking into account the socio-cultural and literary-historical contexts his short stories are situated in—a shorthand for which would be neoliberalism and postmodernism—I demonstrate how narrative empathy works both at the levels of story and discourse in his short fiction.

The aim of this article is to describe the mechanism of determining the key parameters of the speech portrait of a mentally unhealthy character in a literary text in terms of achieving pragmatic adequacy in translation. The material used for analysis includes the novel ‘Flowers for Algernon’ by Daniel Keyes, the short story ‘Survivor Type’ by Stephen King, and the novel ‘American Psycho’ by Bret Easton Ellis. The authors utilize a proposed algorithm of pretranslation analysis as a tool. It has been established that specific linguistic markers are employed in creating the speech portrait in literary texts, observed through one or multiple parameters. These linguistic markers accurately characterize the existing facts of altered language consciousness in mental disorders. Components of the character’s speech portrait may include verbal aggression (obscene language), metaphors, specific sentence structures, verbalization of grandiosity, etc. The authors conclude that the proposed algorithm, with the application of psycholinguistics data, allows for tracing the peculiarities of selecting expressive means in the original text and identifying relevant markers of the speech portrait of a mentally unhealthy character for subsequent representation of these characteristics as functional dominants in translation. This will help avoid shifts in realizing the character’s image in translation.

Empirical aesthetics has mainly focused on general and simple relations between stimulus features and aesthetic appreciation. Consequently, to explain why people differ so much in what they like and prefer continues to be a challenge for the field. One possible reason is that people differ in their aesthetic sensitivity, i.e., the extent to which they weigh certain stimulus features. Studies have shown that people vary substantially in their aesthetic sensitivities to visual balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity, and that this variation explains why people like different things. Our goal here was to extend this line of research to music and examine aesthetic sensitivity to musical balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity. Forty-eight non-musicians rated their liking for 96 4-second Western tonal musical motifs, arranged in four subsets varying in balance, contour, symmetry, or complexity. We used linear mixed-effects models to estimate individual differences in the extent to which each musical attribute determined their liking. The results showed that participants differed remarkably in the extent to which their liking was explained by musical balance, contour, symmetry, and complexity. Furthermore, a retest after two weeks showed that this measure of aesthetic sensitivity is reliable, and suggests that aesthetic sensitivity is a stable personal trait. Finally, cluster analyses revealed that participants divided into two groups with different aesthetic sensitivity profiles, which were also largely stable over time. These results shed light on aesthetic sensitivity to musical content and are discussed in relation to comparable existing research in empirical aesthetics.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether non-fiction (news) and fiction (short story) narrative formatscould have different effects in increasing narrative transport and readers’ empathy. The study was conductedusing an experimental pre-posttest method and two groups designed. Participants of 62 students (male = 19,female = 43, Mage= 21.6) were randomly assigned to two groups of reading conditions (non-fiction vs. fiction),then their level of empathy and narrative transport were measured after manipulation/treatment. The measuresused were the Narrative Transport Questionnaire and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The statistical analysismethod used was the MANCOVA test. Differences in conditions (non-fiction vs. fiction) as independentvariables, baseline narrative transport score and empathy as covariates to be controlled. The test results betweenthe group multivariate test showed that there was a significant difference between the reading groups of non-fiction and fiction on narrative transport and readers’ empathy simultaneously after controlling for the pre-testnarrative transport and pre-test empathy variables, F(2, 57) = 3.291, p &lt; .05, Wilks’ Λ = .896, with power ηp2 =.104 (10.4%). The univariate test on each dependent variable (empathy, narrative transport) in terms of textreading (non-fiction vs. fiction), after controlling for covariates (pre-test empathy, pre-test narrative transport),only differed significantly in the dependent variable narrative transport, F(5, 55) , p &lt; 0.05, with ηp2 = .087 (8.7%),but not significant on the dependent variable empathy. The discussion is related to the familiarity of the readertowards the main character in non-fiction and fiction texts

Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) describes individual differences in sensitivity to environments, but there is little research on potential positive correlates of SPS. Hereby we investigate whether SPS and its Aesthetic Sensitivity (AES) component are associated with different facets of creativity and empathy. Questionnaires on SPS, creativity and empathy were administered to 296 participants and data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Higher SPS total and AES scores were associated with more creative ideas (SPS: β = 0.294, pfdr < 0.001; AES: β = 0.484, pfdr < 0.001). Only AES was associated with more creative activities (AES: β = 0.292, pfdr < 0.001). Furthermore, higher SPS total and AES scores were associated with more overall empathy (SPS: β = 0.428, pfdr < 0.001; AES: β = 0.373, pfdr < 0.001), affective empathy (SPS: β = 0.507, pfdr < 0.001; AES: β = 0.331, pfdr < 0.001), cognitive empathy (SPS: β = 0.2692, pfdr < 0.001; AES: β = 0.347, pfdr < 0.001), and less emotional disconnection (SPS: β = 0.234, pfdr β 0.001; AES: β = 0.210, pfdr β 0.001). Most associations remained significant after controlling for openness to experience, and the other SPS components of ease of excitation and low sensory threshold and gender, age, and education. We conclude that SPS and AES are associated with creativity and empathy. Strengthening these positive aspects might help highly sensitive people flourish.

Through examining Huang Chunming’s transtextual project Cheers, Soldier!（Zhanshi Ganbei 戰士，乾杯！）, this paper explores how settler authorship becomes structurally unsettled. Across its short story and stage script forms, the narrative centers on the multigenerational conscription of Indigenous men into successive colonial armies. Rather than presenting this history as resolved or representable, the texts reveal a deeper tension: the author’s own position becomes entangled in the return of what cannot be narrated from the outside. While the short story filters Indigenous experience through a reflective first-person voice, the stage script disperses that perspective, incorporating fragmented speech, embodied presence, and performative memory. As narrative control gives way to shared perception, authorship itself shifts from an interpretive authority to a residual structure shaped by absence, vulnerability, and repetition. Through close textual analysis, the paper argues that this transtextual movement is not a linear adaptation, but a redistribution of narrative responsibility. Cheers, Soldier! does not aim to repair historical violence through fiction. Instead, it lingers in the uncertainty of what it means to write from a settler position. The result is not narrative empathy, but narrative haunting: an authorial presence that remains within the frame, no longer centered, but no longer able to withdraw.

ABSTRACT: The study of narrative empathy (i.e., readers' sharing of characters' perspectives and mental states) is getting increasing attention from theoretical and empirical perspectives. Recently, a number of empirical quantitative and qualitative studies have been conducted on empathy in literary reading. However, in qualitative studies where participants are not directly prompted to comment on empathy, the analysis of empathetic responses raises an important methodological problem; namely, determining whether and how there is evidence of empathy in readers' verbal responses. This article proposes a way to operationalize, or make workable, what counts as evidence of narrative empathy by developing a taxonomy of linguistic evidence of empathetic responses that ranges from explicit to implicit evidence. The taxonomy is illustrated with data from a focus group study of readers' responses to two short stories by Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano. This research makes a methodological contribution by outlining a framework for the qualitative analysis of empathetic responses. At the same time, the article considers some caveats in the analysis of readers' responses which may be valuable for those conducting empirical reader research in general because these issues ultimately influence the analysis and interpretation of the data, and thus, the results obtained. I argue for a shift in current scholarly discussion toward the issues that concern the actual analysis of reader responses without shying away from acknowledging the problems that arise in the process of analysis. This discussion should be of interest to scholars working in empirical narratology, empirical stylistics, and empirical literary studies.

This article contributes new insights into the interplay between textual and reader factors in experiences of narrative empathy, or empathy with characters in narrative. It adds to the rather scarce empirical evidence on the relationships between textual devices and readers’ (non-)empathetic responses to characters. This empirical study involved stylistic-narratological analysis of short stories by Eduardo Galeano and thematic analysis of focus group discussions. The study considers empathy in relation to victims and perpetrators in narratives of persecution and torture. Methodologically, the article emphasises the value of a qualitative approach to collecting and analysing readers’ responses that is half way between naturalistic and experimental orientations. The main findings, which revolve around the interaction between certain narrative techniques and readers’ moral evaluation of characters, challenge some theoretical claims from the scholarly literature about textual effects on readers’ empathy. In so doing, the article considers empathy as a highly flexible and context-dependent phenomenon, and suggests the need for a nuanced approach that accommodates the complex interaction between textual and reader factors in the reading context. The discussion spells out the broader implications of the study for stylistic research on the role of language in bringing about effects in readers and also for narrative empathy research. These implications will be of interest to scholars conducting reception studies or reader response research in the neighbouring fields of empirical stylistics, empirical narratology, and empirical literary studies.

The role of personality in shaping engagement with aesthetics in science has been almost entirely unexplored. Whereas artists and arts settings (e.g., museums) are well-studied from a psychological perspective, the practice of science has often been seen as purely rational or dry. In response, this study presents novel findings on the critical role of scientists' individual differences, which shape their engagement with aesthetics, such as the frequency of their experiences of beauty, wonder, and awe in their scientific work. Based on a very large and representative four-country study of scientists in the fields of biology and physics (N = 3,092), this study analyzed the associations of Big Five personality traits among scientists with (i) dispositional aesthetics (DPES-awe), (ii) the frequency of aesthetic experiences in scientific work, and (iii) aesthetic sensitivity in science. These survey-weighted OLS regression models included extensive statistical controls for sociodemographic factors. As hypothesized, openness is positively, and neuroticism is negatively linked with dispositional aesthetics, the frequency of aesthetic experiences in scientific work, and aesthetic sensitivity in science. Unexpectedly, agreeableness and conscientiousness (but not extraversion) are highly significant and strong predictors of the three trait and state aesthetic engagement variables. The aesthetic engagement and personality framework of this paper is empirically supported and demonstrates the importance of personality types of scientists in the practice of science. The unexpectedly strong association of agreeableness with aesthetic engagement points to the importance of cooperation, collaboration, and communication to maximize scientific creativity.

Applying a stylistic analysis on certain texts refers to the identification of patterns of usage in writing. However, such an analysis is not restricted just to the description of the formal characteristics of texts, but it also tries to elucidate their functional importance for the interpretation of the text. This paper highlights complexity as a hallmark of a stylistic analysis in A Rose for Emily , a short story by William Faulkner (1897-1962). The analysis is done by adopting Halliday's (1985) approach to analyzing complexity in sentence structure; and Lauer, et al's (2008) approach to analyzing narrative from a macro perspective in relation to the story acts. The analysis rests upon the assumption that since form conveys meaning, Faulkner's multilayer usage of complexity is extremely functional. This paper tries also to detect and prove that stylistic complexity is manipulated to convey the main themes, events, and successfully leads to identify the distinctive structure of this story. Keywords: Style, Stylistic Complexity, Hypotactic, Paratactic, Functional

Aesthetic sensitivity is a core idea in empirical aesthetics, which refers to the study of the causes of individual variation in aesthetic appreciation. Throughout the history of the discipline, however, aesthetic sensitivity has been conceived of in several different ways. In this chapter, I survey the three most prominent theories of aesthetic sensitivity. First, I review literature promoting a normative notion and determinist view of aesthetic sensitivity, especially associated with the work of Cyril Burt and Hans Eysenck. Then I review arguments for a normative and educative view—primarily defended by Irving Child. Finally, I discuss a more recent theory of aesthetic sensitivity that conceives of aesthetic sensitivity as the individual's responsiveness to a stimulus feature. Together, these overviews will provide the reader a first introduction to the main accounts of why people vary so profoundly in what they like and dislike.