527: Your Brain on Literature

Philosophy Talk Starters

More at https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/your-brain-literature. Cognitive science has revolutionized our understanding of the brain and how it functions. Researchers have even used fMRI to detect differences in the way people engage with literature. But can contemporary science really teach us anything about how novels, poems, and movies work? Do new understandings of the unconscious help us appreciate the brilliant magic tricks that writers pull off? And could a better picture of mental imagery inspire novelists to write differently? Josh and Ray pick the brain of Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman, author of "Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain."