WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Is the Human Brain Hardwired for Poetry?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today's episode is another

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<v Speaker 1>classic from our archives. If you had a chance to

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<v Speaker 1>listen to our episode back in the beginning of May

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<v Speaker 1>about Edgar Allan Poe, which included a reading of his

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<v Speaker 1>poem The Raven, there's a good chance that different parts

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<v Speaker 1>of your brain activated while listening to the episode versus

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<v Speaker 1>the poem. We know this because of researchers who asked

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<v Speaker 1>the question of the day, is the human brain hardwired

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<v Speaker 1>for poetry? Hey brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Baum. Here, whether

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<v Speaker 1>it's Alfred Lord Tennyson's Ulysses or Maya Angelou's Caged Bird,

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<v Speaker 1>there's something about reading or hearing a great poem that

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<v Speaker 1>stimulates our minds, moving us to ponder the world from

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<v Speaker 1>new angles and from a neuroscientific point of view. That's

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<v Speaker 1>no accident. In recent years, researchers have used fMRI I

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<v Speaker 1>that's functional magnetic resonance imaging and other sophisticated tools to

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<v Speaker 1>study how the human brain reacts to poetry. They've discovered,

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<v Speaker 1>among other things, that the brain seems to be wired

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<v Speaker 1>to recognize the rhymes and rhythms that poets use and

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<v Speaker 1>to differentiate them from ordinary speech or prose. They've also

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<v Speaker 1>found that contemplating poetic imagery and the multiple layers of

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<v Speaker 1>meanings and poems activates specific areas of the brain, some

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<v Speaker 1>of the same areas that help us to interpret our

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<v Speaker 1>everyday reality. So I mentioned that our brains seem wired

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<v Speaker 1>to recognize poetry. Let's unpack that. In a study published

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<v Speaker 1>in the journal Frontiers of Psychology, researchers at the UK's

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<v Speaker 1>Banger University read an assortment of sentences to a group

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<v Speaker 1>of Welsh speaking subjects. Some of the sentences conformed to

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<v Speaker 1>the intricate poetic construction rules of konkand, a traditional form

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<v Speaker 1>of Welsh poetry, while others did not follow those rules.

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<v Speaker 1>Although the subjects knew as little about Koncanada as I

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<v Speaker 1>know about pronouncing Welsh, they nevertheless categorized as good these

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<v Speaker 1>sentences that followed the rules as compared to other sentences.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers also hooked up the subje X to E

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<v Speaker 1>e G devices and observed a distinctive burst of electrical

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<v Speaker 1>activity in the subject's brains that occurred in the fraction

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<v Speaker 1>of a second after hearing the last word of a

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<v Speaker 1>poetic line. We spoke with bang Or psychology professor Gyum

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<v Speaker 1>Cheery via email. They said, I believe that our results

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<v Speaker 1>argue for a profoundly intuitive origin of poetry. Poetry appears

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<v Speaker 1>to be built in. It's like a profound intuition. Every

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<v Speaker 1>human being is an unconscious poet. Poetry also seems to

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<v Speaker 1>affect specific areas of the brain, depending upon the degree

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<v Speaker 1>of emotion and the complexity of the language and ideas.

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<v Speaker 1>In a study published in in the Journal of Consciousness Studies,

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<v Speaker 1>researchers at the UK's University of Exeter had participants lay

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<v Speaker 1>inside an f M R I scanner while they read

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<v Speaker 1>various texts on a screen. The selections ranged from deliberately

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<v Speaker 1>dull prose such as a section from a heating equipment

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<v Speaker 1>installation manual, to passages from novels to samples from various poems,

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<v Speaker 1>a few of which the subjects had identified as their favorites.

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<v Speaker 1>The subjects had to rate the texts on qualities such

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<v Speaker 1>as how much emotion they aroused and how literary or

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<v Speaker 1>difficult to contemplate they were. The researchers found that the

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<v Speaker 1>higher the degree of emotiveness that the subjects assigned to

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<v Speaker 1>a sample. The more activation the scans showed in areas

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<v Speaker 1>on the right side of the brain, many of the

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<v Speaker 1>same ones identified in a two thousand one study as

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<v Speaker 1>being activated by music that moved listeners to feel chills

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<v Speaker 1>or shivers down their spines. The examples rated as more literary.

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<v Speaker 1>In contrast, lit up areas mostly on the left side

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<v Speaker 1>of the brain, including the basal ganglia, which are involved

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<v Speaker 1>both in regulating movement and processing challenging sentences. The subject's

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<v Speaker 1>favorite poems weakly activated a network in the brain associated

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<v Speaker 1>with reading, but strongly activated the inferior parietal lobes, an

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<v Speaker 1>area associated with recognition. Yet another recent experiment, detailed in

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<v Speaker 1>a article in the neuroscience journal Cortex, University of Liverpool

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<v Speaker 1>researchers used an fMRI I to scan the brains of

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<v Speaker 1>subjects while they read various passages of poetry and prose,

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<v Speaker 1>in an effort to mind what parts of the brain

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<v Speaker 1>were involved in literary awareness, the capacity to think about

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<v Speaker 1>and find meaning in a complex text. In half of

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<v Speaker 1>the examples. The final line was an unexpected twist that

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<v Speaker 1>Philip Davis, a professor and director of the School's Institute

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<v Speaker 1>of Psychology, Health and Society refers to as an AHA moment.

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<v Speaker 1>One example, William Wordsworth's poem She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways,

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<v Speaker 1>about a recluse who died in seclusion, in which the

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<v Speaker 1>narrator drops a hint that he may have been her

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<v Speaker 1>unrequited lover. The subjects rated the passages on how poetic

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<v Speaker 1>they seemed and whether or not the last lines led

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<v Speaker 1>them to reappraise the meaning a measure of literary awareness.

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<v Speaker 1>Davis said in an email. We believe that this is

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<v Speaker 1>the first f m R I that examines the unfolding

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<v Speaker 1>effects of moving from line to line and the consequences

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<v Speaker 1>in terms of what we call literary awareness as compared

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<v Speaker 1>to more automatic and literal minded processing of meaning. The

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<v Speaker 1>poetic work triggered different parts of the brain related to

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<v Speaker 1>non automatic process thing of meaning, leading to increased lively

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<v Speaker 1>activation of mind and a simultaneous sense of psychological reward.

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<v Speaker 1>But the research also suggests that reading or listening to

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<v Speaker 1>poetry is useful for something besides just rousing our emotions

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<v Speaker 1>and stimulating our brains. I mean, coffee does that. It

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<v Speaker 1>seems that the same mental skills that we exercise and

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<v Speaker 1>struggling to understand t s. Eliott's The Love Song of

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<v Speaker 1>j Alfred proof Rock i e. Flexible thinking and the

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<v Speaker 1>ability to ponder multiple meanings also help us to navigate

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<v Speaker 1>unpredictable events and make choices in our everyday lives. Davis

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<v Speaker 1>said the calling into activation of literary awareness may have

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<v Speaker 1>a significant effect in challenging our default mindset. He thinks,

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<v Speaker 1>in other words, that if more people read poetry and

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<v Speaker 1>god accustomed to pondering meaning quote, it would make a

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<v Speaker 1>difference to their capacity to think with more alertness to excite,

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<v Speaker 1>surprise and change. Sounds like a good excuse to revisit

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<v Speaker 1>some of your favorite authors or try a few new

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<v Speaker 1>ones now. Today's episode is based on the article the

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<v Speaker 1>human brain is Hardwired for Poetry on how Stuffworks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Patrick J. Kaiger. Brain Stuff is production of

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<v Speaker 1>I Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot

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<v Speaker 1>Com and is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>my heart Radio because at the I heart Radio app,

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<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.