Introduction to literary neuroaesthetics (Read 112 times)

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Neuroaesthetics consists of the application of neurological principles to aesthetic research. That is, it tries to define beauty by studying the way in which the brain perceives it. The founder of the science is Semir Zeki, who in 1994 published the first neuroaesthetic essay, The neurology of kinetic art , with Matthew Lamb . The most important Italian researcher is Lamberto Maffei. Applications of neuroaesthetics to literature 1. Novel Embodied Mirror neurons are among those responsible for empathy: when we see an action, they mimic it. It has thus been demonstrated that the reader introjects the text: if he reads an action, the areas of motion are activated, if he reads about a sensation, the same areas are activated that are activated when he actually perceives it.


Hence the justification of “show don't tell”: by describingPhone Number Data precise events, the reader becomes immersed more easily. But be careful: the brain areas are activated more if you specify the part of the body that performs the action or perceives the sensation. So “knocked” is not as efficient as “knocked with his knuckles”, or better yet it is “knuckles hit the damp wood”. All this is explained in the essay The Novel in the Body , by Anatole Pierre Fuksas. 2. The Factor N400 The brain areas that are most talked about when it comes to reading are those of Broca and Wernicke, in the left hemisphere. When reading, however, the right hemisphere also has a task: it is activated when it is necessary to interpret a rhetorical figure or a complex sentence.




It has been noted that an unexpected sentence such as “the cat catches the moon” causes greater activation than an obvious one such as “the cat catches the mouse”, and this should translate into satisfaction. The increase in the brain's electrical charge when reading semantically complex sentences is called Faktor N400, a principle also applied by the poet Grünbein. Further information can be found in Anna Cappellotto's essay The nerve acts under writing . 3. The exhibition model The brain organizes thought by networks of concepts: it starts from the generic, and as it receives information it gets closer to interpretation. Zwaan talks about this in Character and reader emotions in literary texts .