This study used fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of supernatural fiction, featuring either fictional or realistic characters, compared to real-world stories. Participants' brain activations were recorded while they read supernatural/realistic scenarios. Results showed that reading supernatural scenarios activated sensorimotor and the related frontal regions, compared to reading realistic scenarios. Furthermore, reading supernatural texts with unexpected realistic characters resulted in additional brain activity in the left IFG, compared to reading supernatural texts with expected fictional characters. Mediation analyses indicated that the activation of the left sensorimotor cortex during the reading of supernatural scenarios is mediated by readers' social cognition. Moreover, there was increased functional connectivity among different brain regions within the simulation network, and between the simulation network and the social cognition network, during the understanding of supernatural narratives. These findings suggest that simulation is crucial for readers to comprehend and interpret supernatural stories.

© 2025. The Author(s).

本研究使用fNIRS（功能性近红外光谱成像）来探究超自然小说的神经机制，该小说包含虚构或现实的人物，并与现实生活中的故事进行比较。在参与者阅读超自然/现实场景时记录了他们的大脑激活情况。结果显示，阅读超自然场景比阅读现实场景激活了感觉运动和相关的前额区域。此外，阅读带有意外真实人物的超自然文本相比阅读带有预期虚构角色的超自然文本，在左侧IFG（内侧 frontal gyrus）产生了额外的大脑活动。中介分析表明，读者在阅读超自然场景时左侧面感觉运动皮层的激活是由社会认知介导的。此外，在理解超自然叙述期间，模拟网络中的不同大脑区域之间的功能连接性增加，并且模拟网络与社会认知网络之间也存在增强的功能连接性。这些发现表明，模拟对读者理解和解释超自然故事至关重要。

© 2025. The Author(s).