Comprehension of ambiguous texts

The lab members published an article about the сomprehension of ambiguous texts in “Voprosy psikhologii”.

The paper describes the results of the study which tested the hypothesis about linear correlation between comprehension of fables and both emotional intelligence and Theory of Mind. We used J. Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices test, EmIn questionnaire by D.V. Lyusin, Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (translated and adapted by E.E. Rumyantseva) and in-depth semi-structured interview based on the original test of fables’ comprehension (by O.V. Shcherbakova and E.A. Nikiforova). Sixty volunteers (46 females, aged 18 – 32 years), all native speakers of Russian, participated in the study. Each participant was tested individually. Statistical analyses were performed using Cronbach’s alpha reliability test, conjugacy tables, correlational analysis (Pearson’s r) with Benjamini – Hochberg corrections, regression analysis (curvilinearity test), and factor analysis, implemented in SPSS Statistics 23.0 software. We found no correlations between the participants’ comprehension of fables and their levels of either emotional intelligence or Theory of Mind; therefore, the main hypothesis of the study received no support. However, fables’s comprehension appeared to correlate with psychometric intelligence. We also found that comprehension of figurative meanings of fables presented substantial challenge for most participants as no more than 25% of our sample reached the highest level of comprehension of the fables’ key points. This finding corresponds well to the previously reported results. We conclude that psychometric intelligence appears to be the most predictive factor for successful comprehension of fables.