Presence in the reading of literary narrative: A case for motor enactment

TLDR

The paper proposes an embodied theory of presence, framing the reader’s sense of entering a tangible environment as a cognitive phenomenon grounded in narrative theory, literary aesthetics, phenomenology, and experimental cognitive science. The authors argue that presence is cued by explicit or strongly implied references to object‑directed bodily movement, and analyze how embedding such references in narrative structure can effectively elicit this sensorimotor simulation. Contrary to common assumptions, the study finds no direct link between spatial description detail and vividness of imagery, and shows that presence emerges from first‑person enactive sensorimotor simulation rather than passive third‑person visualization.

Abstract

Drawing on research in narrative theory and literary aesthetics, text and discourse processing, phenomenology and the experimental cognitive sciences, this paper outlines an embodied theory of presence (i.e., the reader's sense of having entered a tangible environment) in the reading of literary narrative. Contrary to common assumptions, it is argued that there is no straightforward relation between the degree of detail in spatial description on one hand, and the vividness of spatial imagery and presence on the other. It is also argued that presence arises from a first-person, enactive process of sensorimotor simulation/resonance, rather than from mere visualizing from the perspective of a passive, third-person observer. In sections 1 to 3, an inter-theoretical argument is presented, proposing that presence may be effectively cued by explicit (or strongly implied) references to object-directed bodily movement. In section 4, an attempt is made at explaining which ways of embedding such references in the narrative may be particularly productive at eliciting presence.