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Fiction enables readers to simulate the social experiences of characters and may facilitate prosociality. Research has indicated that fiction print exposure positively relates to empathy and may promote altruistic behaviors. Whether associations hold across different media formats and thematic genres remains unclear. This study took a multidimensional approach to both fiction engagement and empathic abilities. Specifically, it aimed to replicate previous findings that lifetime fiction exposure positively predicts empathy, and to extend this literature through an exploration of the relationships between media and genre formats, empathy and altruism. Participants (N = 404) completed a multidimensional task measure of fiction media exposure and answered questions about fiction engagement, empathic and altruistic tendencies. Results showed divergent associations between fiction format, genre, and empathic abilities, and fiction media exposure positively predicted the tendencies to become transported into narratives and to help others. Engagement with fiction formats and thematic genres may differentially support adults’ prosocial development.

Investigations into the evolutionary origins of human cognition has shown that individuals' memory for others is influenced by the latter's behaviour in social contracts. Such research is primarily based on hypothetical or more abstract forms of social contracts, whereas an application of this knowledge to everyday health behaviours can be of great value. To address this, the current study investigated whether participants who were asked to imagine themselves in a hypothetical hazardous health scenario showed differential response sensitivity (d′) and latency (RT) to faces of hospital staff tagged with contrasting hand hygiene before touching patients: clean hands, dirty hands, or unknown handwashing behaviour (control). The test used a two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC: "old/new") face recognition paradigm. The findings showed that d′ to dirty and clean hands were similar, but higher than for controls. Moreover, d′ was not affected by the occupation of hospital staff (nurses vs. porters). The absence of memory gains towards clean or dirty hands points to the need for new strategies to remind patients to observe (and remember) the hand hygiene of others when exposed to hazardous health environments.

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Background: High cognitive load during driving is often disruptive and one of the main causes of road accidents. Surprisingly, we know little about the effect (if any) of cognitive load immediately before driving, and even less about the effect of driving (with its own cognitive load) on subsequent performance in cognitive tasks. Method: The effect of cognitive load on a subsequent driving task was examined in Study 1 (n = 31). Participants completed a battery of cognitive tests with low or moderate cognitive demands and their driving performance on a simulator was assessed on two consecutive days (speed, distance from the car ahead, and lane keeping ability). Study 2 (n = 98) examined the effect of a cognitively demanding driving task on the performance of follow up cognitive task, the multi-source interference task (MSIT). In that study, accuracy, and reaction time to MSIT were compared in two conditions: no driving vs post-driving.Results: A moderate level of cognitive load pre-driving led to a modest increase in the distance kept from the car ahead, while a demanding period of driving led to a significant increase in cognitive performance when compared to the control condition (e.g., prior driving).Conclusion: The findings suggest that increases in cognitive processing during periods of demanding mental activity mobilise attentional processes which are likely to remain active for a short period of time benefiting subsequent cognitive performance.