At the Heart of Optimal Reading Experiences: Cardiovascular Activity and Flow Experiences in Fiction Reading

Fiction reading is a popular leisure activity associated with a variety of pleasurable experiences, including suspense, narrative transportation, and— as indicated by recent empirical studies— also flow. In the context of fiction reading, flow—generally defined as a pleasurable state of mind experienced during an optimally stimulating activity—is specifically related to an optimal balance between textdriven challenges and the reader’s capabilities in constructing a mental story model. The experimental study reported here focused on the psychophysiological underpinnings of flow in the reading context. Cardiovascular data were collected from 84 participants both during a relaxation baseline prior to reading and during reading. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of three versions of a chapter from Homer’s Odyssey. According to statistical readability indices, these versions were low, intermediate, or high in readability, and hence in cognitive challenge. Flow was measured immediately after reading with a selfreport scale that was tailored to assess readingspecific flow experiences. Regression analyses revealed that cardiovascular activation patterns measured before reading that are reflective of parasympathetic dominance— that is, an inner state associated with relaxation and cognitive fluency— moderated flow experiences during reading. In line with the stipulations of flow theory in regard to matching challenge levels being the key determinant for flow, this pattern supported subsequent flow experiences only in response to text versions of high or intermediate, but not of low cognitive challenge. Differences in cardiac vagal tone during reading were, however, not sensitive to our experimental modifications and not predictive of flow experiences. In his essay Moments during Reading (1932), the German journalist and writer Kurt Tucholsky noted: At times, oh joyous moments, you immerse yourself in a book so deeply that you completely disappear into it – you cease to exist. Heart and lungs are functioning, your body steadily does its inner factory work – you don’t feel it. You know nothing of the world surrounding you, you don’t hear a thing, you don’t see a thing, you read. You are under the spell of a book. ” (Tucholsky, 1932, p. 573) As illustrated by this quote, positive reading experiences are typically characterized by a state of deep involvement with the fictional world. To achieve this, the reader needs to construct a vivid mental model of the text (see McNamara & Magliano, 2009, for an overview over mental model theories in reading research). This task requires considerable mental effort, as the reader has to parse the text to gather information, integrate it with his or her preexisting cognitive schemata, and form appropriate mental representations (Buselle & Bilandzic, 2008). According to the eventindex Birte A. K. Thissen Wolff Schlotz Cornelius Abel Mathias Scharinger Klaus Frieler Julia Merrill Thomas Haider Winfried Menninghaus Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany At the Heart of Optimal Reading Experiences: Cardiovascular Activity and Flow Experiences in Fiction Reading