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Today, developing and maintaining sustainable societies is becoming a notable social concern, and studies on altruism and prosociality toward future generations are increasing in importance. Although altruistic behaviors toward future generations have previously been observed in some experimental situations, it remains unknown whether prosocial preferences toward future others are based on equality or joint outcome orientations. In the present research, we exploratorily investigated preferences regarding resource distribution by manipulating the time points (i.e., present/future) of the participants and their imaginary partners. The results indicate that prosocial preference toward future others was as strong as that toward present others and seemed to be based on a joint outcome prosocial preference. Notably, when participants and their partners were at different time points, participants preferred to leave resources for the persons in the future. The findings indicate that the type of altruistic preference toward future others may differ from that toward present others, which is mainly equality.

Previous studies have revealed that reading fiction is associated with dispositional empathy and theory-of-mind abilities. Earlier studies established a correlation between fiction reading habits and the two measures of social cognition: trait fantasy (i.e., the tendency to transpose oneself into fictitious characters) and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; a test of the ability to identify others’ mental states based on their eyes). Recently, experimental studies have shown that brief exposure to fiction enhances RMET performance. Nevertheless, these studies have been conducted only in Western countries, and few published studies have investigated these relationships in Asian countries. This research aims to address this gap. Study 1, which involved 338 Japanese undergraduates, conceptually replicated the previously reported correlations between fiction reading and fantasy and RMET scores (after statistically controlling for the effect of outliers). However, Study 2, which involved 304 Japanese undergraduates, failed to replicate the causal relationship. Participants read an excerpt either from literary fiction or from nonfiction, or engaged in a calculation task, before completing the RMET. Brief exposure to literary fiction did not increase the RMET score. In sum, this study replicated the associations of fiction reading with fantasy and RMET scores in Japan, but failed to replicate the causal relationship.

Previous studies have revealed that reading fiction is associated with dispositional empathy and theory-of-mind abilities. Earlier studies established a correlation between fiction reading habits and the two measures of social cognition: trait fantasy (i.e., the tendency to transpose oneself into fictitious characters) and performance on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET; a test of the ability to identify others’ mental states based on their eyes). Recently, experimental studies have shown that brief exposure to fiction enhances RMET performance. Nevertheless, these studies have been conducted only in Western countries, and few published studies have investigated these relationships in Asian countries. This research aims to address this gap. Study 1, which involved 338 Japanese undergraduates, conceptually replicated the previously reported correlations between fiction reading and fantasy and RMET scores (after statistically controlling for the effect of outliers). However, Study 2, which involved 304 Japanese undergraduates, failed to replicate the causal relationship. Participants read an excerpt either from literary fiction or from nonfiction, or engaged in a calculation task, before completing the RMET. Brief exposure to literary fiction did not increase the RMET score. In sum, this study replicated the associations of fiction reading with fantasy and RMET scores in Japan, but failed to replicate the causal relationship.

Spontaneous eyeblink rates greatly vary among individuals from several blinks to a few dozen blinks per minute. Because dopamine agonists immediately increase the blink rate, individual differences in blink rate are used as a behavioral index of central dopamine functioning. However, an association of the blink rate with polymorphisms in dopamine-related genes has yet not been found. In this study, we demonstrated that a genetic variation of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor CHRNA4 (rs1044396) increased the blink rate while watching a video. A receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that the blink rate predicts a genetic variation in the nicotinic receptor gene with a significant discrimination level (0.66, p < 0.004). The present study suggests that differences in sensitivity to acetylcholine because of the genetic variation of the nicotinic receptor are associated with individual differences in spontaneous eye blink rate.