WORDS such as Muggle and Quidditch from Harry Potter fantasy novels have been used in an in-depth eye movement psychological study to find out how people react to unfamiliar language.
Husband and wife behavioural psychology researchers and avid Harry Potter fans, Dr Chris Hand from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and Dr Joanne Ingram from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), teamed up for a labour of love to produce their latest study.
The research entitled ‘Words from the wizarding world: Fictional words, context, and domain knowledge’ has just been published in the leading American Psychological Association (APA) Journal of Experimental Psychology.
A total of 32 Harry Potter fans and 22 non-fans were used in the experimental eye movement study with each reading 72 sentences, scientifically created by the researchers to capture the public’s responses to words such as Muggle, Hogwarts and Quidditch.
After hours of analysing raw data, the psychologists, whose research backgrounds are in words and language, discovered that most people can understand these specialist terms if used in the right context.
The study examined the processing of fictional words - specifically those appearing in the Harry Potter book series written by J.K. Rowling that feature the main character Harry Potter.
Researchers studied the eye movement behaviour of readers familiar or unfamiliar with the Harry Potter series.
Dr Hand said: “The research is all about Harry Potter, and how fans and non-fans not just read the materials differently, but actually seem to store it in their brains differently.
"Our research has shown that even people who don’t have this super-duper level of expertise in a particular field, if you put that word in the right context people can process it and understand it.
“This is important research because it helps us understand how to communicate public health information.
"The message is that if you have a technical word – don’t dumb down language, use the proper word and context because we are showing that it actually makes it easier to understand if you’ve got the right contextual information.
“So for things like public health information, economics, politics, medicine, training, education, and for GPs who are trying to communicate something to a patient, don’t just throw the word in without context or try to replace it with a simpler word.”
Dr Hand and Dr Ingram, who have been married for 12 years, have studied Harry Potter for years - reading all the books and watching the blockbuster movies.
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