Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman

Ep107 "Why do brains love stories?" (with Joshua Landy)

Jun 2, 2025
This week, David Eagleman is joined by Joshua Landy, a Stanford comparative literature scholar, who co-teaches 'Literature and the Brain.' They dive into the fascinating link between storytelling and brain function. Discover why narratives enchant us, the cognitive shortcuts they exploit, and how great authors resemble magicians. The discussion spans the psychological impacts of stories, from enhancing empathy to the nuances of cognitive biases and the importance of deep literary engagement in understanding ourselves and others.
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ANECDOTE

Child's Immersive Reading Experience

  • David Eagleman's daughter sits still and reads, transported mentally to another world with a monkey and a cat in space.
  • Her body is in the kitchen but her brain fully inhabits a fictional universe.
INSIGHT

Writers Use Brain Biases

  • Writers exploit cognitive biases like prediction and selective attention to craft surprises and garden-path narratives.
  • This manipulation deepens engagement by making readers revise their expectations and perceptions.
INSIGHT

Reading Trains Cognitive Self-Correction

  • Literature trains us to recognize our own biases by showing how characters and readers misinterpret events.
  • This makes us slower to jump to conclusions in real life, enhancing empathy and humility.
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