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How Literature Plays with the Brain: The Neuroscience of Reading and Art
An original interdisciplinary study positioned at the intersection of literary theory and neuroscience. "Literature matters," says Paul B. Armstrong, "for what it reveals about human experience, and the very different perspective of neuroscience on how the brain works is part of that story." In How Literature Plays with the Brain , Armstrong examines the parallels between certain features of literary experience and functions of the brain. His central argument is that literature plays with the brain through experiences of harmony and dissonance which set in motion oppositions that are fundamental to the neurobiology of mental functioning. These oppositions negotiate basic tensions in the operation of the brain between the drive for pattern, synthesis, and constancy and the need for flexibility, adaptability, and openness to change. The challenge, Armstrong argues, is to account for the ability of readers to find incommensurable meanings in the same text, for example, or to take pleasure in art that is harmonious or dissonant, symmetrical or distorted, unified or discontinuous and disruptive. How Literature Plays with the Brain is the first book to use the resources of neuroscience and phenomenology to analyze aesthetic experience. For the neuroscientific community, the study suggests that different areas of research―the neurobiology of vision and reading, the brain-body interactions underlying emotions―may be connected to a variety of aesthetic and literary phenomena. For critics and students of literature, the study engages fundamental questions within the What is aesthetic experience? What happens when we read a literary work? How does the interpretation of literature relate to other ways of knowing?
240 pages, Hardcover
First published August 14, 2013
13 people are currently reading
467 people want to read
About the author
Paul B. Armstrong
11 books5 followersPaul B. Armstrong is Professor of English and former Dean of the College at Brown University. He was previously a professor and a dean at the University of Oregon and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has also taught at the University of Copenhagen, Georgia Institute of Technology, the Free University of Berlin, the University of Virginia, and the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. He is the author of How Literature Plays with the Brain: The Neuroscience of Reading and Art; Play and the Politics of Reading: The Social Uses of Modernist Form; Conflicting Readings: Variety and Validity in Interpretation; The Challenge of Bewilderment: Understanding and Representation in James, Conrad, and Ford; and The Phenomenology of Henry James. He is editor of the Norton Critical Edition of E. M. Forster’s Howards End and of the fourth and fifth Norton Critical Editions of Heart of Darkness.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 23, 2016
A very densely written summary on the parallels between various traditional approaches in the humanities towards reading and aesthetics and current neuroscientific research. Armstrong demonstrates a profound knowledge of both spheres. Unfortunately, it takes an almost equally comprehensive knowledge base to truly appreciate his presentation of how recent breakthroughs in neuroscience provide a scientific basis for phenomenological and aesthetic theories.
He concludes that both approaches are examining the same phenomena and making complementary observations. His basic demand: a more collaborative approach towards such questions in order to identify the differing perspectives and the resulting knowledge gap, addressing the deficiencies of one by supplementing it with its counterpart. This much becomes clear after reading the introduction and his epilogue. Especially the later chapters reinforce his fundamental declarations with neuroscientific minutiae which are beyond the comprehension of interested introduction level readers. In short, while the goal might be to encourage interdisciplinary initiative, the text requires an advanced level of familiarity with both disciplines.
He concludes that both approaches are examining the same phenomena and making complementary observations. His basic demand: a more collaborative approach towards such questions in order to identify the differing perspectives and the resulting knowledge gap, addressing the deficiencies of one by supplementing it with its counterpart. This much becomes clear after reading the introduction and his epilogue. Especially the later chapters reinforce his fundamental declarations with neuroscientific minutiae which are beyond the comprehension of interested introduction level readers. In short, while the goal might be to encourage interdisciplinary initiative, the text requires an advanced level of familiarity with both disciplines.
January 5, 2018
very interesting reading and of course topic of neuroscience, our brains are really mysterious and fascinating creation,.. some scientific fact preseneted in more popular way which was for me more understandable. Im coming from humanistic field so this way of expressing in a book was more appropriate for me :)
Read
July 31, 2015Why neuroaesthetics is the new phenomenology.
December 15, 2018
Fascinating read. It felt dense when I tried to quickly absorb it, but when I slowed down and made sure I was following it did a wonderful job of combining literary theory/philosophy/phenomenology with neuroscience. Mostly focused on the problem of consciousness, harmony vs. dissonance (and the concept of play), how the brain turns the symbols of words into language, the hermeneutic circle of reading (and the way the brain constantly shifts between different interpretive modes/lenses), the temporality of reading, and some particularly interesting discussion of the notion of self/other in reading and its relation to mirror neurons and humans memetic tendencies. Various points of the book got me thinking more about interesting questions of aesthetics, semiotics, and broader theories of perception (like Free Energy stuff). I would've been interested in a more specific account of where he thinks the field can go, but this was a great analysis of what has been learned so far that raised a bunch of cool questions.
December 8, 2013
This book was fascinating for what it was (and for its index, which is invaluable to me right now), but part of me still finds that the claims he makes hold up only insofar as they apply to literary scholars and, while Armstrong is persuasive in his arguments regarding what it is in our brains that make reading possible and enjoyable for us, his overall pitch to neurologists seems less cogent and grounded than it might be.
But his presentation of the neurological research within a humanities context and in a way that neither trivializes the work nor makes absurd claims about the hard problem of qualia was excellent and this book has been very well stickied.
But his presentation of the neurological research within a humanities context and in a way that neither trivializes the work nor makes absurd claims about the hard problem of qualia was excellent and this book has been very well stickied.
October 19, 2015
Reading like a Writer and Writing like a Reader:
Interpreting and Categorizing the Consumer of Art
Paul B. Armstrong’s “How Literature Plays with the Brain” offers an extensive theoretical and practical approach by providing a fascinating range of examples from the workings of literature and literary theory, which present the brain as “a peculiar, at times paradoxical, but eminently functional combination of constancy and flexibility, stability and openness to change, fixed constraints and plasticity” (p. 3). More importantly, the examples provided work to bridge the gap between experience and knowledge. Since we can never generalize about the affects that are built on cultural references, personal experiences, and other attributing factors, we tend to resort to critical understandings of works of art and literature. Similarly, Armstrong applies the same method by merging the theories of phenomenology and hermeneutics as well as research on neuroaesthetics and neurobiology. He effectively plays the mediator between two the two clashing cultures of art and neuroscience.
Moreover, Armstrong debunks some myths and commonplace notions about the brain. He reveals that, contrary to popular belief, aesthetic experience takes place spatially and temporally in many brain regions instead of particular regions of the brain. Of course, he reminds that technology is still too ‘crude’ to identify and capture what is exactly happening when we read a particular text. He argues that our brains are playful things, which give art a ‘neurobiological value’ (p. 53). Art plays a complex role, as we are constantly challenged by it and challenge it to attach meaning and form to surrounding phenomenon and objects. Armstrong draws attention to the fact that brain is influenced by many experiences, including vision, which reminds me of Freud’s primary process.
The chapter I found most relevant and intriguing is chapter two titled “How the Brain Learns to Read and the Play of Harmony and Dissonance,” which could be an excellent basis for a nonfiction piece titled “The Naïve and Sentimental Novelist,” written by Nobel Prize winner, Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk provides examples from Dostovesky and Tolstoy’s work to illustrate how “aesthetics of reading share much with the visual arts and music, in part because the graphic and phonetic processes of word recognitions depend on vision and hearing” and “the comprehension of written linguistic texts is a neurobiological hybrid that draws on an array of brain processes” (Armstrong p. 26). While the brain is structurally predisposed to acquire language, reading does not come naturally. In fact, “clinical and experimental evidence suggests that this conversion occurs in a region of the brain (the ‘letterbox’) devoted to the recognition of visual forms” (p. 28). Similarly, Pamuk believes that “no doubt every literary text addresses both our visual and textual intelligence “ (p. 90). In doing so, he gives the example of live theater, where everything takes place before our eyes such as wordplay, poetic language, and the flow of everyday speech.
Freud’s primary process regarding image perception and the theoretical arguments posed in Pamuk’s book complement Armstrong’s approach to the brain and the aesthetic experience involved in the act of reading (and writing). The argument at the heart of the book is that the act of reading is an embodied experience that stimulates both our emotions and cognitive processes. In any case, the miracle of how neurobiology is transformed into conscious experiences of art and literature will remain (p. 5)
Chapter 4 really resonated with me, as I've always been fascinated with the way literature and other works of art depicts and addresses the notion of time. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, the last line of The Great Gatsby, which I think perfectly encapsulates mankind's ceaseless quest of yearning to turn back the 'hands of time' as it moves forward, oblivious to those left behind: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." I don't think there's anything surprising about our ability to be conscious of what is gone or what is yet to come. In my opinion, this is the form or level of consciousness that renders us different from other animals, even more so than the aspect of language or culture.
Like all contradictions, “the coherence of lived time as an integrated structure of differences (‘punctual phases’) is a fundamental, self-evident aspect of experience, but it is also a paradox that begs phenomenological and neuroscientific explanation” (91). Armstrong believes that “this paradox is crucial to understanding reading and interpretation, which are phenomena that happen in time” (92). Of course, this notion is embedded in the brain’s temporality. Naturally, I think that it not the act of reading that is temporal but the perception of it as it takes place in the motion-processing region of the brain. However, I was confused about the horizon metaphor and the issue of coherence and continuity/discontinuity. How can we say that the present experience has temporal coherence if any given moment is bound to the present and connected to the past and future, and “the world presents itself to us incompletely, in aspects or profiles that fit together (or don’t)?” (p. 93). I also found it interesting how the present is said to have a ‘rententional horizon,’ yet it is still “consequently narrower than the ‘specious present.’"
I liked how the discussion on the fluid nature of time and the temporality of reading was tied to the important link between music and language, how the “auditory pattern recognition” is “a classic case of time consciousness” (95). I think poetry is the form of art that best reflects this relation between time, music, and language. This chapter truly captures the idea that reading can take us ‘places,’ as we travel through time and space and “be on the move as readers” without moving at all, which is another thing we owe our “decentered brains,” I guess (130).
Interpreting and Categorizing the Consumer of Art
Paul B. Armstrong’s “How Literature Plays with the Brain” offers an extensive theoretical and practical approach by providing a fascinating range of examples from the workings of literature and literary theory, which present the brain as “a peculiar, at times paradoxical, but eminently functional combination of constancy and flexibility, stability and openness to change, fixed constraints and plasticity” (p. 3). More importantly, the examples provided work to bridge the gap between experience and knowledge. Since we can never generalize about the affects that are built on cultural references, personal experiences, and other attributing factors, we tend to resort to critical understandings of works of art and literature. Similarly, Armstrong applies the same method by merging the theories of phenomenology and hermeneutics as well as research on neuroaesthetics and neurobiology. He effectively plays the mediator between two the two clashing cultures of art and neuroscience.
Moreover, Armstrong debunks some myths and commonplace notions about the brain. He reveals that, contrary to popular belief, aesthetic experience takes place spatially and temporally in many brain regions instead of particular regions of the brain. Of course, he reminds that technology is still too ‘crude’ to identify and capture what is exactly happening when we read a particular text. He argues that our brains are playful things, which give art a ‘neurobiological value’ (p. 53). Art plays a complex role, as we are constantly challenged by it and challenge it to attach meaning and form to surrounding phenomenon and objects. Armstrong draws attention to the fact that brain is influenced by many experiences, including vision, which reminds me of Freud’s primary process.
The chapter I found most relevant and intriguing is chapter two titled “How the Brain Learns to Read and the Play of Harmony and Dissonance,” which could be an excellent basis for a nonfiction piece titled “The Naïve and Sentimental Novelist,” written by Nobel Prize winner, Orhan Pamuk. Pamuk provides examples from Dostovesky and Tolstoy’s work to illustrate how “aesthetics of reading share much with the visual arts and music, in part because the graphic and phonetic processes of word recognitions depend on vision and hearing” and “the comprehension of written linguistic texts is a neurobiological hybrid that draws on an array of brain processes” (Armstrong p. 26). While the brain is structurally predisposed to acquire language, reading does not come naturally. In fact, “clinical and experimental evidence suggests that this conversion occurs in a region of the brain (the ‘letterbox’) devoted to the recognition of visual forms” (p. 28). Similarly, Pamuk believes that “no doubt every literary text addresses both our visual and textual intelligence “ (p. 90). In doing so, he gives the example of live theater, where everything takes place before our eyes such as wordplay, poetic language, and the flow of everyday speech.
Freud’s primary process regarding image perception and the theoretical arguments posed in Pamuk’s book complement Armstrong’s approach to the brain and the aesthetic experience involved in the act of reading (and writing). The argument at the heart of the book is that the act of reading is an embodied experience that stimulates both our emotions and cognitive processes. In any case, the miracle of how neurobiology is transformed into conscious experiences of art and literature will remain (p. 5)
Chapter 4 really resonated with me, as I've always been fascinated with the way literature and other works of art depicts and addresses the notion of time. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, the last line of The Great Gatsby, which I think perfectly encapsulates mankind's ceaseless quest of yearning to turn back the 'hands of time' as it moves forward, oblivious to those left behind: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." I don't think there's anything surprising about our ability to be conscious of what is gone or what is yet to come. In my opinion, this is the form or level of consciousness that renders us different from other animals, even more so than the aspect of language or culture.
Like all contradictions, “the coherence of lived time as an integrated structure of differences (‘punctual phases’) is a fundamental, self-evident aspect of experience, but it is also a paradox that begs phenomenological and neuroscientific explanation” (91). Armstrong believes that “this paradox is crucial to understanding reading and interpretation, which are phenomena that happen in time” (92). Of course, this notion is embedded in the brain’s temporality. Naturally, I think that it not the act of reading that is temporal but the perception of it as it takes place in the motion-processing region of the brain. However, I was confused about the horizon metaphor and the issue of coherence and continuity/discontinuity. How can we say that the present experience has temporal coherence if any given moment is bound to the present and connected to the past and future, and “the world presents itself to us incompletely, in aspects or profiles that fit together (or don’t)?” (p. 93). I also found it interesting how the present is said to have a ‘rententional horizon,’ yet it is still “consequently narrower than the ‘specious present.’"
I liked how the discussion on the fluid nature of time and the temporality of reading was tied to the important link between music and language, how the “auditory pattern recognition” is “a classic case of time consciousness” (95). I think poetry is the form of art that best reflects this relation between time, music, and language. This chapter truly captures the idea that reading can take us ‘places,’ as we travel through time and space and “be on the move as readers” without moving at all, which is another thing we owe our “decentered brains,” I guess (130).
April 15, 2022
(3.5) finally finished the last chapter of this lol why did it take me 10 months to read
fr this was really interesting!!! i love this third culture discourse + love reading books by humanists that engage w neuroscience + scientists that engage w literature. chefs kiss. did make me realise how little linguistic theory i have engaged w over the course of my degree tho
was overall v densely written + i wouldn’t have finished it if not for my dissertation but some chapters i found really engaging (defo tailed off towards the end tho and was at times quite repetitive)
fr this was really interesting!!! i love this third culture discourse + love reading books by humanists that engage w neuroscience + scientists that engage w literature. chefs kiss. did make me realise how little linguistic theory i have engaged w over the course of my degree tho
was overall v densely written + i wouldn’t have finished it if not for my dissertation but some chapters i found really engaging (defo tailed off towards the end tho and was at times quite repetitive)
October 13, 2020
Contents
Preface ix
1 The Brain and Aesthetic Experience 1
2 How the Brain Learns to Read and the Play of Harmony and Dissonance 26
3 The Neuroscience of the Hermeneutic Circle 54
4 The Tempor ity of Reading and the Decentered Brain 91
5 The Social Brain and the Paradox of the Alter Ego 131
Epilogue 175
Notes 183
Index 213
Preface ix
1 The Brain and Aesthetic Experience 1
2 How the Brain Learns to Read and the Play of Harmony and Dissonance 26
3 The Neuroscience of the Hermeneutic Circle 54
4 The Tempor ity of Reading and the Decentered Brain 91
5 The Social Brain and the Paradox of the Alter Ego 131
Epilogue 175
Notes 183
Index 213
April 17, 2018
Thought provoking, well researched and a good starting point for humanist that want to go beyond their field of experience.
February 21, 2025
A very insightful but dense to read... Denser to understand book
September 19, 2015
The book merge between many subjects of science and philosophy. To read it you need to have scientific background of neurophysiology and neuroanatomy.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews