Does AI Authorship Undermine Reader Engagement?

Imagine reading a compelling short story—now imagine being told it was written by AI. Would it feel the same? This question lies at the heart of two recent experiments investigating AI authorship and its impact on narrative transportation (Messingschlager & Appel, 2024), the psychological immersion readers experience while engaging with a story.

Study overview

As AI-generated content becomes increasingly prevalent, understanding how readers emotionally respond to AI-written stories has become more crucial than ever. In the first experiment of this investigation, Messingschlager and Appel (2024) examined how the belief that a story was authored by either an AI or a human influenced readers’ experiences. In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to read a brief author biography indicating either a human or AI author, followed by a contemporary fiction story—all of which were actually written by humans. After reading, participants rated: 1) Narrative transportation; 2) Eeriness (a sense of discomfort or uncanniness); 3) Willingness to share the story with others; 4) Openness to experience and affinity for technology. Experiment 2 extended this design by incorporating both contemporary fiction and science fiction stories to examine whether genre influences the impact of perceived AI authorship.

Findings

In Experiment 1, the results revealed that narrative transportation significantly declined when readers believed the story was authored by AI. Interestingly, and contrary to expectations, AI authorship made the story feel less eerie, rather than more. Additionally, participants’ willingness to share the story was unaffected by the perceived authorship. Individual differences (i.e., openness to experience and technological affinity) did not moderate the effects of AI authorship on transportation, eeriness, or sharing intentions. While greater openness was associated with higher transportation and willingness to share overall, it did not buffer against the reduced engagement caused by AI attribution. 

In Experiment 2, the main finding was replicated: for contemporary fiction, perceived AI authorship again reduced narrative transportation. However, when it came to science fiction, no significant difference emerged between the AI and human author conditions. This suggests that genre plays a crucial role. Readers may view AI as a more legitimate or credible author within the science fiction genre—possibly because of the genre’s inherent association with technology and futurism. In this context, AI authorship may feel more fitting or even advantageous.

Disclaimer

This blog post is based on scientific research and is intended solely for public awareness.

For detailed information, please refer to the original article.

Messingschlager, T. V., & Appel, M. (2024). Creative artificial intelligence and narrative transportation. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 18(5), 848-857. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000495 

The Sci-Fi effect: Boosting creativity in STEM fields

Every day, many of us immerse ourselves in fiction for enjoyment, whether through reading, watching, or listening to stories. Some of us even have a particular interest for specific genres like Science-Fiction (Sci-Fi). Sci-Fi is fascinating, sparking discussions about how enjoyable and beneficial it can be for audiences (check here for more). But with all this interest, there are still big questions hanging around: is there solid empirical evidence supporting the idea that exposure to Sci-Fi is indeed beneficial? And if there is, which ability could it affect? Does this impact hold true across all demographics?

To explore these questions empirically, I would direct your attention to the findings from a recent study by Veronica Marozzo and her colleagues (2024) from Italy. Their research promises illuminating insights.

Study overview

Marozzo and her colleagues conducted an experiment to determine whether exposure to a short Sci-Fi TV series could affect viewers' creativity. Their experiment specifically aimed to investigate how individual academic preferences, particularly a preference for STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), influenced the impact of exposure to a short Sci-Fi TV series on viewers' creativity. Furthermore, they investigated divergent thinking, which entails generating numerous novel ideas.

    To find the answers, Marozzo et al. (2024) recruited 204 university students who either had a STEM background or a non-STEM background (i.e., other disciplines). They were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions, in which they either watched a 45-minute Sci-Fi TV series or a 45-minute non-Sci-Fi TV series.

    In the Sci-Fi series condition, participants were presented with a TV series depicting humanity's colonization of the solar system in a distant future era set in deep space, delving into the socio-economic dynamics and conflicts among various factions. In the non-Sci-Fi condition, participants watched a TV series about the experiences of workers on a offshore oil platform after an explosion, focusing on their struggles and the risks they encounter.

    After watching, all participants were asked to complete a task. In this task, participants were presented with a problem of a social nature (i.e., the management of a waste process). After delivering the task, participants were asked to generate as many solutions and ideas as possible that could improve the problem (i.e., divergent thinking). Participants were also informed that the ideas and solutions should not already be present in their hometown.

    Thus, the researchers instructed the participants to generate ideas and solutions to the problem as an index of divergent creativity. In terms of scoring, researchers proposed four criteria: 1) originality (uncommon ideas compared to overall responses); 2) fluency (the number of relevant ideas); 3) flexibility (in how many fields responders provided ideas); 4) elaboration (the amount of detail for each idea). They calculated the mean of creativity.

The interaction of Sci-Fi and academic background

Regarding creativity and individuals' background, the results showed no significant impact of exposure to sci-fi. However, they found a significant interaction between Sci-Fi and individuals' backgrounds. Planned analysis showed that participants with a STEM background showed enhanced divergent creativity after watching a Sci-Fi TV series, while participants with a non-STEM background showed less creativity after watching a Sci-Fi TV series compared to a non-Sci-Fi TV series.

    Additionally, the study showed a short-term effect of Sci-Fi on divergent creativity, wherein exposure to a 45-minute Sci-Fi TV series could improve participants' divergent creativity. However, this effect is not consistent across all populations, as individuals with different disciplines showed less creativity.

    The reason behind these findings suggests that the Sci-Fi genre may enhance critical thinking in people with a STEM background because of their analytical and problem-solving thinking patterns, while it may not have the same effect on non-STEM individuals due to their preference for realistic and tangible scenarios.

    Overall, this study has shown that brief exposure to the Sci-Fi genre enhances creativity. However, the enhanced creativity was not consistent across all individuals, as participants with a STEM background benefited more from exposure to Sci-Fi, while participants with a non-STEM background may not find effective results.

For detailed information, please refer to the original article.

Marozzo, V., Crupi, A., Abbate, T., Cesaroni, F., & Corvello, V. (2024). The impact of watching science fiction on the creativity of individuals: The role of STEM background. Technovation, 132, 102994. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2024.102994

Picture Credit.

"Unwanted Guest" by Alex Shuper

Learn more about the surprising link between Sci-Fi and creativity!

https://homofictusbulletin.blogspot.com/2024/02/sci-fi-enjoyment.html

Unlocking the mystery of Sci-Fi enjoyment

Why is Sci-Fi Fun?

Some of us enjoy reading Sci-Fi, while others don’t. Why is that? What are the differences between someone for whom Sci-Fi is fun and interesting and the other who finds it not that much interesting? Edgar Dubourg and colleagues (2024) from the Institut Jean Nicod, Département d’études cognitives, École normale supérieure, Université PSL, Paris, France, answer the question from different angles. 

Megapolis by Robert McCall

    Imagine this scenario: You are walking in a forest that you have never explored before. Because the forest is new to you and you have never been there, you experience uncertainty and unpredictability due to its novelty. You may have no idea about what’s happening there. In such an uncertain forest, your brain may struggle to answer those questions because you lack clues to respond to the inquiry. This uncertainty can be both aversive and attractive. It is discomforting as you grapple with questions like “What’s going on” or “What should I do?” This uncertainty can be scary and pose short-term risks since you can’t understand the situation or predict anything there. However, this unexplored forest is also attractive because you anticipate acquiring new information from this new place. This reward motivates you to delve deeper into the forest, explore new information about the situation such as learning about animals living there, birds, trees, etc., and consequently reduce the level of prior high-level uncertainty.

    If we agree that the human reward system (via dopaminergic pathway) rewards actions that lead to achieving evolutionarily programmed goals (e.g., eating) as well as actions that increase the probability of achieving such goals in the future (e.g., information about which resources to collect), we should also agree that “new information in itself is rewarding for the brain” (p. 3). In other words, curiosity is rewarding because new information provides resources for an unknown situation that might be helpful for future encounters. Human beings are rewarded when they acquire new information.

    You may wonder how to acquire new information. Imagine the forest scenario again. If you couldn’t tolerate the uncertainty of the forest before exploring it, you couldn’t discover new information, and consequently, the situation would still be discomforting and opaque for you. But if you tolerate the uncertainty of the forest, your brain rewards you due to curiosity. As a result, when you pass through the forest and learn about the animals, birds, etc., you no longer feel discomfort in the face of the forest because you now have knowledge about it. In short, increasing the level of uncertainty is functional in reducing it for future encounters in the medium or long term.

The universe by Robert McCall

    Returning to our question: Why is Sci-Fi enjoyable? Dubourg and colleagues (2024) explain that for some individuals, Sci-Fi is akin to the unexplored forest mentioned earlier. Some people have a desire to learn about unexplored features of such places like the forest soil. This curiosity is a cognitive mechanism that rewards acquiring new information. In Sci-Fi, some may be curious about learning innovative technologies or futuristic worlds in stories. This learning journey is pleasurable for them. In other words, the brain's reward system contributes to specific pleasure derived from consuming Sci-Fi as it motivates individuals to explore new events and acquire new information.

Sci-Fi breaks intuitive laws: What makes it intriguing

Dubourg et al. (2024), mention that some elements of Sci-Fi stimulate the cognitive mechanism of curiosity by increasing levels of uncertainty. Imagine reading a Sci-Fi story about time traveling either to the past or future. The fiction deviates from intuitive physics as we intuitively learn that time travel is impossible and certain for us. However, in such a story where time travel is possible for the protagonist, readers transition from what was intuitively predictable to an unpredictable situation. This deviation activates the human brain's reward system as lower levels of uncertainty are established again once information becomes available.

Who is more interested in Sci-Fi?

Why isn't Sci-Fi enjoyable for some people? Or conversely: Who is more interested in Sci-Fi? The answer seems straightforward: individuals who exhibit curiosity as a personality trait (i.e., Openness to experience) are more interested in Sci-Fi. The article mentions several empirical studies with extreme sample sizes (e.g., 3.5 million participants) showing a positive correlation between attraction to Sci-Fi and scores of Openness to experience. Another interesting factor leading people to engage with Sci-Fi is economic developments. The author notes that economic advancements and improvements in living conditions have made certain populations more curious about new and strange stimuli contributing to their interest in Sci-Fi compared to other genres of fiction. However, this relationship between readership of Sci-Fi and economic developments is bidirectional; meaning Sci-Fi itself can inspire and contribute to technological advancements and innovation which can drive economic development.

In a Nutshell

In summary: evolution has shaped the reward system to make the unknown interesting and motivate us to explore new events in our environments; this explains why Sci-Fi has intrinsic appeal. Secondly, other genres of fiction may not trigger specific cognitive mechanisms like Sci-Fi does. Finally, individuals who show openness to novelty are more interested in exposing themselves to Sci-Fi. The relationship between economic development and readership of Sci-Fi is bidirectional and complex.

For detailed information, please refer to the original article.

Dubourg, E., Thouzeau, V., & Baumard, N. (2024). The psychological origins of science fiction. Poetics, 102, 101862. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.poetic.2024.101862