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Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds

Creative writing and cognitive neuroscience can jointly illuminate how literary writing can change our minds by enhancing our tolerance for uncertainty. From my perspective as a novelist, I will show how literary writing hijacks the mechanisms of day-to-day perception and orchestrates cognition to f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: Devereux, Kim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9595112/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36304853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1019987
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author Devereux, Kim
author_facet Devereux, Kim
author_sort Devereux, Kim
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description Creative writing and cognitive neuroscience can jointly illuminate how literary writing can change our minds by enhancing our tolerance for uncertainty. From my perspective as a novelist, I will show how literary writing hijacks the mechanisms of day-to-day perception and orchestrates cognition to facilitate vividness of (imaginary) experience and insight. Drawing on examples from my novel and other research, I will discuss the role of uncertainty and literary devices such as contradiction and paradox in stymieing habitual assumptions while inviting the reader’s sensory imagination and conscious awareness, thereby creating an open space for insight. I hypothesize that literary writing promotes a form of dual cognition that involves both sensory experience and detachment, is therapeutic, and may share some of the benefits of mindfulness.
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spelling pubmed-95951122022-10-26 Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds Devereux, Kim Front Psychol Psychology Creative writing and cognitive neuroscience can jointly illuminate how literary writing can change our minds by enhancing our tolerance for uncertainty. From my perspective as a novelist, I will show how literary writing hijacks the mechanisms of day-to-day perception and orchestrates cognition to facilitate vividness of (imaginary) experience and insight. Drawing on examples from my novel and other research, I will discuss the role of uncertainty and literary devices such as contradiction and paradox in stymieing habitual assumptions while inviting the reader’s sensory imagination and conscious awareness, thereby creating an open space for insight. I hypothesize that literary writing promotes a form of dual cognition that involves both sensory experience and detachment, is therapeutic, and may share some of the benefits of mindfulness. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC9595112/ /pubmed/36304853 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1019987 Text en Copyright © 2022 Devereux. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Devereux, Kim
Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title_full Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title_fullStr Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title_full_unstemmed Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title_short Embracing Uncertainty: How literary writing helps us change our minds
title_sort embracing uncertainty: how literary writing helps us change our minds
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9595112/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36304853
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1019987
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