Absorption and Trance-Inductive Poetry

Abstract

This is an empirical study of trance-inductive poetry. Forty-one readers, classified as low- and high-absorption by median split, were asked to read a trance-inductive poem characterized by high metric regularity, and rate the latter on seven 7-point evaluative scales (e.g., boring-interesting). While low-absorption subjects found the poem to be boring and unpleasant, high-absorption subjects found the poem to be interesting and pleasant. We discuss how the low-absorption subjects respond to a flat sequence of monotonously rhyming lines, finding the text to be boring, while the high-absorption subjects detect a hierarchic structure in the poetic text, finding the latter to be pleasing.