Table 1 . Means and Standard Deviations of Pretest and Posttest NTQ Scores in Non-imagery and imagery Direction Groups.
A mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to assess the difference between the NTQ scores of the two testing conditions (pretest and posttest) and the two direction groups (non-imagery direction and imagery direction groups). There was a significant main effect for the pretest and posttest, F (1,110) = 9.903, p = .05,η2 = .009. There was also a marginally significant interaction between the condition and direction group, F (1,110) = 2.82,p = .096, η2 = .002. Since significant effects were observed, post hoc comparisons were conducted using the Bonferroni correction. The results indicated that mean posttest NTQ score was significantly greater than the pretests NTQ scores in the imagery direction group. However, for the non-imagery direction group, the pretest NTQ scores did not significantly differ from the posttest NTQ scores.
To observe the self-report rate of story immersion, the vividness of mental imagery, and the vividness of the characters in the story, a Narrative Transportation Questionnaire (NTQ) was filled out after reading a moral dilemma. The NTQ scores increased in the imagery direction task group from pretest to posttest conditions. This relationship between the pretest and posttest NTQ scores was not observed in the non-imagery direction group.
We interpret these outcomes as indicating that the imagery direction worked as intended, and the overall immersion of the moral dilemma scenarios increased in the imagery direction group in the posttest conditions, which contained the imagery direction task.
The results are consistent with the prior studies in first and second language reading comprehension (YOUSEF ATOUM; REZIQ, 2018; WANG et al. , 2015). We argue that directions of proper mental imagery techniques increase the vividness of imagery and narrative immersion while reading. In addition, the importance of the constrained imagination method can explain this increase in vividness through the imagery instructions task.
4.2 Pretest Posttest Moral Dilemma Responses
For one of the moral dilemma responses, participants were asked whether the action of pushing a few of the elderly and weaker passengers off the lifeboat to save yourself and the other passengers was acceptable. Since the non-imagery direction group did not receive a mental imagery direction, the choice rate between the pretest and the posttest should be relatively consistent. The imagery direction group had an imagery direction before the posttest. Thus, a change in the rate of choices is predicted to be observed.
In the non-imagery group, the 58 participants responded to two moral dilemma scenarios in the pretest and posttest. In the pretest, 40% (n = 23) responded “Yes” (this action is appropriate in this circumstance), and 60% (n = 35) responded “No” (this action is not appropriate in this circumstance). In the posttest, 57% (n = 33) responded “Yes” and 43% (n = 25) responded “No” (Figure 1).
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Figure 1. Circle Graph for Moral Decisions in the Non-Imagery Direction Group. Percentage of the yes and no moral dilemma choices in the pretest (left) and posttest (right) for the non-imagery direction group.
In the imagery group, 54 participants responded to two moral dilemma scenarios in the pretest and the posttest. In the pretest, 48% (n = 26) responded “Yes” and 52% (n = 28) responded “No”. In the posttest, 35% (n = 19) responded “Yes” and 65% (n = 35) responded “No” (Figure 2).
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Figure 2. Circle Graph for Moral Decisions in the Imagery Direction Group Note. Percentage of the yes and no moral dilemma choices in the pretest (left) and posttest (right) for the imagery direction group.
Table 2 below shows the contingency table, or the frequency distribution of the pretest and posttest moral dilemma choices, for the non-imagery direction group. Table 3 shows the contingency table for the imagery direction group. These tables show the number of participants who shifted between yes and no as well as those who remained consistent (Yes-to-No or No-to-Yes).