Increased inter-hemispheric functional connectivity during supernatural reading appears only in high-familiarity readers and is absent in low-familiarity readers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Among high-familiarity participants, significantly higher PLV occurred between left MFG and right poCG and between left preCG and right AG (SR vs SF), and between left IPL and right SPG (SR vs RR); the low-familiarity group showed no significant differences. → Xiaodong Xu 2025

Evidence¶

Xiaodong Xu 2025¶

Xiaodong Xu, Cheng Jia, Kang Chen & Lijuan Chen. (2025). Unveiling the neural mechanisms of supernatural fiction comprehension using fNIRS. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-025-00327-0

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Familiarity-based subgroup PLV analysis in the same fNIRS experiment; a further left IPL–right SPG connection reached significance for SR vs RR. The article states "However, no significant differences were found in the low-familiarity group."

"the high-familiarity group, participants exhib- ited significantly higher PLV in connections between the left MFG (CH21) and the right poCG (CH31) ( t(30) = 12.504, sd = 0.191, pFDR < 0.001, praw < 0.001), as well as between the left preCG (CH5) and the right AG (CH32) (t(30) = 12.516,sd = 0.204, pFDR < 0.001, praw < 0.001) when com- paring SR to SF"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The SR-related brain-activation pattern occurs only in readers highly familiar with Harry Potter; low-familiarity readers show no significant differences — related
• Functional connectivity within the simulation network increases during comprehension of supernatural narratives with realistic characters — related
• Readers highly familiar with Harry Potter rate all scenarios as more supernatural than low-familiarity readers — related
• Reading supernatural scenarios with unexpected realistic characters activates the left preCG, poCG and IFG more than reading supernatural scenarios with fictional characters — related