Surreal experiences boost brain power

Psychologists at the University of California – Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia have found that exposure to surrealism, by say, reading a book by Franz Kafka or watching a film by director David Lynch, enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee the implicit learning functions in the brain. The research was reported in the journalPsychological Science.

“The idea is that when you’re exposed to a meaning threat – something that fundamentally does not make sense – your brain is going to respond by looking for some other kind of structure within your environment,” said researcher Travis Proulx. “And, it turns out, that structure can be completely unrelated to the meaning threat.”

Meaning, explains Proulx, is an expected association within one’s environment. Fire, for example, is associated with extreme heat, and putting your hand in a flame and finding it icy cold would constitute a threat to that meaning.

In the study, the researchers asked a group of subjects to read an abridged and slightly edited version of Kafka’s The Country Doctor, which involves a nonsensical – and in some ways disturbing – series of events. A second group read a different version of the same short story, one that had been rewritten so that the plot and literary elements made sense. The subjects were then asked to complete an artificial-grammar learning task in which they were exposed to hidden patterns in letter strings. They were asked to copy the individual letter strings and then to put a mark next to those that followed a similar pattern.

“People who read the nonsensical story checked off more letter strings – clearly they were motivated to find structure,” said Proulx. “But what’s more important is that they were actually more accurate than those who read the more normal version of the story. They really did learn the pattern better than the other participants did.”

Importantly, the researchers have identified the beneficial effects of unusual experiences only in implicit pattern learning. It remains to be seen whether or not reading surreal literature would aid in the learning of studied material as well. “It’s important to note that sitting down with a Kafka story before exam time probably wouldn’t boost your performance on a test,” noted Proulx.

He added that the element of surprise was critical. “If you expect that you’ll encounter something strange or out of the ordinary, you won’t experience the same sense of alienation. You may be disturbed by it, but you won’t show the same learning ability. The key to our study is that our participants were surprised by the series of unexpected events, and they had no way to make sense of them. Hence, they strived to make sense of something else.”

Related:
Striking differences between brains of rich and poor
The High Cost Of Intelligence
Brain Wired For Adventure
This Is Your Brain On Jazz

Source: University of California

, ,

Comments are closed.

Comic Art Surrealism picture

Comic Art Surrealism

$60.00



Kirch SALVADOR DALI Melting Face Wall Clock-Persistence of Memory Surrealism picture

Kirch SALVADOR DALI Melting Face Wall Clock-Persistence of Memory Surrealism

$64.99



MALCOLM TARLOFSKY POSTCARD 1988 VINTAGE PHOTO COLLAGE IMAGE SURREAL OCCULT ART  picture

MALCOLM TARLOFSKY POSTCARD 1988 VINTAGE PHOTO COLLAGE IMAGE SURREAL OCCULT ART

$7.77



Surrealism [Bicycle] - Playing Cards picture

Surrealism [Bicycle] - Playing Cards

$6.85



Distant figures Tree Mess Surreal unusual weird odd abstract vintage photo Error picture

Distant figures Tree Mess Surreal unusual weird odd abstract vintage photo Error

$9.99



🔥John J. STANCIN Art Abstract Modernism Surreal Landscape Mcm LITHOGRAPH print  picture

🔥John J. STANCIN Art Abstract Modernism Surreal Landscape Mcm LITHOGRAPH print

$425.00



5 VTG ART Postcards Surreal - Hieronymus Bosch. ALL UNP #2G picture

5 VTG ART Postcards Surreal - Hieronymus Bosch. ALL UNP #2G

$14.99



1950s Hidden girls Pretty women hiding laying in grass Unusual odd surreal photo picture

1950s Hidden girls Pretty women hiding laying in grass Unusual odd surreal photo

$9.99



Surrealism picture

Surrealism

$76.35



Mid Century Modern Original Art Surrealist Landscape Sun Set Painting Original picture

Mid Century Modern Original Art Surrealist Landscape Sun Set Painting Original

$298.98



Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes