Question
What are the linkages between the ways humans construct narrative and the structure (physical and/or cognitive) of the human brain?
Answer
Our memory processes appear to be narrative-based at a basic level. See Medina's "Brain Rules."
But beyond that, you'll have better luck looking for a connection at a cognitive science level than a neuroscience level. Neuroscience unfortunately, hasn't yet gotten its head out of the weeds (excuse me, synapses) yet, so doesn't really say truly useful things about such questions. The field is still mostly in the fMRI-happy world of localizing different brain functions spatially (I call this "Latin geography" -- it doesn't really help people like you and me to know that, for instance, reading a story lights up the Superior Campbellus Sitcomus...)
Try Daniel Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in particular, and pay attention to the discussion of perception-construction processes and Orwellian vs. Stalinist models of human perception/memory in particular (i.e. does the brain rewrite history or manufacture it? the question leads to some very deep insights... turns out, from cognitive science experiments, that the brain will often mangle perception to fit a meaningful narrative template better, rather than deal with the data in its raw form).
Another big connection is with emotion, and in particular how emotion modulates memory preservation. Where were you on the morning of 9/11? Now how about trying to remember where you were on the morning of 9/10? See what I mean?
I offer a conjecture, in my upcoming book (http://ribbonfarm.com/tempo ) that archetypal narratives like Campbell's monomyth and the Freytag Triangle arise naturally out of our stress response (fight/flight).
I don't want to give away the juicy bits of the idea in a public answer, but if there's a specific reason you are curious about narrative and cognition, message me. Narrative and neuroscience, you're on your own.
If you are in the mood to experiment with your own mind, try the exercises in Keith Johnstone's "Impro"
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/0...
p.s. the "3-act structure and tendency to think in 3s" type of speculation is basically pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo. There are theories of narrative that consider anywhere from 2 to 10 parts, and taxonomies that propose anywhere from 1 to 45 different narrative templates. You can make up bs theories about our tendency to think in 1s 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s... it's like gamblers making up "systems" or idiot investors seeing all kinds of numerological patterns in stock market movements.
But beyond that, you'll have better luck looking for a connection at a cognitive science level than a neuroscience level. Neuroscience unfortunately, hasn't yet gotten its head out of the weeds (excuse me, synapses) yet, so doesn't really say truly useful things about such questions. The field is still mostly in the fMRI-happy world of localizing different brain functions spatially (I call this "Latin geography" -- it doesn't really help people like you and me to know that, for instance, reading a story lights up the Superior Campbellus Sitcomus...)
Try Daniel Dennett's "Consciousness Explained" in particular, and pay attention to the discussion of perception-construction processes and Orwellian vs. Stalinist models of human perception/memory in particular (i.e. does the brain rewrite history or manufacture it? the question leads to some very deep insights... turns out, from cognitive science experiments, that the brain will often mangle perception to fit a meaningful narrative template better, rather than deal with the data in its raw form).
Another big connection is with emotion, and in particular how emotion modulates memory preservation. Where were you on the morning of 9/11? Now how about trying to remember where you were on the morning of 9/10? See what I mean?
I offer a conjecture, in my upcoming book (http://ribbonfarm.com/tempo ) that archetypal narratives like Campbell's monomyth and the Freytag Triangle arise naturally out of our stress response (fight/flight).
I don't want to give away the juicy bits of the idea in a public answer, but if there's a specific reason you are curious about narrative and cognition, message me. Narrative and neuroscience, you're on your own.
If you are in the mood to experiment with your own mind, try the exercises in Keith Johnstone's "Impro"
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/0...
p.s. the "3-act structure and tendency to think in 3s" type of speculation is basically pseudoscience mumbo-jumbo. There are theories of narrative that consider anywhere from 2 to 10 parts, and taxonomies that propose anywhere from 1 to 45 different narrative templates. You can make up bs theories about our tendency to think in 1s 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, 7s... it's like gamblers making up "systems" or idiot investors seeing all kinds of numerological patterns in stock market movements.