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This Is Your Brain on Culture

How stories, poems, plays, movies and other arts matter

Neuroscience
How Novels Make Me a Murderer

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on February 14, 2012

When we read a story, literary folk say that we "identify" with robbers, killers, thieves, and all kinds of vicious types. Why? What is it about stories that induces us to share criminal impulses?

When we read a story, literary folk say that we "identify" with robbers, killers, thieves, and all kinds of vicious types. Why? What is it about stories that induces us to share criminal impulses?

Cognition
Who Says Film Is Dead?

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on November 21, 2011

Some reviewers fear that video, DVD, Blu-Ray may never equal the past's great films. But not because film has changed. It isn't the grain of the image or the noise of the projector that's lacking—it's the audience. Thinking about the technology is looking at the wrong end. The real issue is, Who's in control?

Some reviewers fear that video, DVD, Blu-Ray may never equal the past's great films. But not because film has changed. It isn't the grain of the image or the noise of the projector that's lacking—it's the audience. Thinking about the technology is looking at the wrong end. The real issue is, Who's in control?

Neuroscience
All about Brain Scans

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on November 14, 2011

Find out all about brain scans. Or almost all. This site is useful for learning about neurology or if your doctor has prescribed one of these neuroimages. Check them out, and note that two of the commonest pose risks—slight risks, but you want to know about them.

Find out all about brain scans. Or almost all. This site is useful for learning about neurology or if your doctor has prescribed one of these neuroimages. Check them out, and note that two of the commonest pose risks—slight risks, but you want to know about them.

Behaviorism
Moneyball: The Behaviorist Movie

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on October 17, 2011

You think it's about two different ways of hiring baseball players. But Moneyball points up the usefulness of behaviorist thinking and a fundamental issue in psychology.

You think it's about two different ways of hiring baseball players. But Moneyball points up the usefulness of behaviorist thinking and a fundamental issue in psychology.

Vittorio Gallese
Neuroscience
Stories and the Mirror Inside You

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on August 17, 2011

When you read a story, you think you think your way into the minds of the characters. But actually you embody your way in. What does that mean? To understand how we read other people, we need to understand mirror neurons, said by some to be the most important discovery since DNA.

When you read a story, you think you think your way into the minds of the characters. But actually you embody your way in. What does that mean? To understand how we read other people, we need to understand mirror neurons, said by some to be the most important discovery since DNA.

Genetics
Literary Darwinism, the Deer Mouse, and the Three-Spine Stickleback

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on August 10, 2011

Literary Darwinists claim that literature makes us humans fitter, and literature therefore became universal across all times and cultures. But how a species becomes fitter is tricky, and obvious stories deceive us. We need better genetic evidence for that kind of far-reaching claim.

Literary Darwinists claim that literature makes us humans fitter, and literature therefore became universal across all times and cultures. But how a species becomes fitter is tricky, and obvious stories deceive us. We need better genetic evidence for that kind of far-reaching claim.

Movie listings
Intelligence
How to Pick a Movie

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on July 22, 2011

Can you pick a movie with confidence that you'll enjoy it? Despite the hype, despite the critics? Yes. You can use the popularity ratings from online sites and, if you make some statistical assumptions, you can be 70% sure that you'll enjoy the movie you're considering.

Can you pick a movie with confidence that you'll enjoy it? Despite the hype, despite the critics? Yes. You can use the popularity ratings from online sites and, if you make some statistical assumptions, you can be 70% sure that you'll enjoy the movie you're considering.

Freudian Psychology
Freud on Obama

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on July 14, 2011

If Freud were alive today, he would have something to say about the Obama presidency. He said it in 1926 in an essay, "Those Wrecked by Success." He would find an oedipal clue to the predicament President Obama finds himself in with his adamant opponents cheerily threatening financial disaster for America.

If Freud were alive today, he would have something to say about the Obama presidency. He said it in 1926 in an essay, "Those Wrecked by Success." He would find an oedipal clue to the predicament President Obama finds himself in with his adamant opponents cheerily threatening financial disaster for America.

Alan Greenspan
Cognition
Does the Market Have a Brain?

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on June 27, 2011

Economists like Alan Greenspan suggest that it does, that by means of some "invisible hand," the market will guarantee stability. Baloney! If you believe that, I have some shares in a bridge in Brooklyn I can offer you at a bargain price.

Economists like Alan Greenspan suggest that it does, that by means of some "invisible hand," the market will guarantee stability. Baloney! If you believe that, I have some shares in a bridge in Brooklyn I can offer you at a bargain price.

Neuroscience
The Arts "Supervene on" the Brain

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on March 30, 2011

There are works of art and there are experiences of art in brains. What's the relation between them? That's really a version of the old mind-brain problem. Here's an answer, courtesy of a Harvard neuroscientist/philosopher: supervenience. The work of art "supervenes on" your response in your brain.

There are works of art and there are experiences of art in brains. What's the relation between them? That's really a version of the old mind-brain problem. Here's an answer, courtesy of a Harvard neuroscientist/philosopher: supervenience. The work of art "supervenes on" your response in your brain.

Play
Seeing Movies Now--Alas!

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on March 21, 2011

iPad, iPhone, and all their kindred just take us back to Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, the old, old way of seeing movies when they were first being invented. We're losing the wonderful experience of having our emotions freed up by having our motor systems shut down and by turning over part of our mental functioning to the rest of the audience.

iPad, iPhone, and all their kindred just take us back to Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, the old, old way of seeing movies when they were first being invented. We're losing the wonderful experience of having our emotions freed up by having our motor systems shut down and by turning over part of our mental functioning to the rest of the audience.

Intelligence
We're Still Boss, Watson

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on February 17, 2011

Watson is a magnificent accomplishment, but don't get drawn into the pop media's game of scaring you with images of Terminators and HALs taking over. Watson is missing the most important brain circuitry required for human intelligence and its achievements.

Watson is a magnificent accomplishment, but don't get drawn into the pop media's game of scaring you with images of Terminators and HALs taking over. Watson is missing the most important brain circuitry required for human intelligence and its achievements.

Play
Museumgoing in the Brain

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on January 26, 2011

For a long time people thinking about the arts have said there was a special state of mind, call it "aesthetic distance" or "disinterestedness." You don't have any special plans about the work of art. You don't plan to act on it. You just let it happen to you. You just enjoy. Now we know something about the brain state that that involves.

For a long time people thinking about the arts have said there was a special state of mind, call it "aesthetic distance" or "disinterestedness." You don't have any special plans about the work of art. You don't plan to act on it. You just let it happen to you. You just enjoy. Now we know something about the brain state that that involves.

Psychology
Trouble in Myth-Land: Campbell and Moyers

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on December 22, 2010

Joseph Campbell, interviewed by Bill Moyers, uses myths to hype a two-valued self-help psychology that doesn't fit either anthropology or brain science or real psychotherapy.

Joseph Campbell, interviewed by Bill Moyers, uses myths to hype a two-valued self-help psychology that doesn't fit either anthropology or brain science or real psychotherapy.

Sport and Competition
Crosswords, Video Games, and Literature

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on December 14, 2010

 Can it be that the brain circuitry that lures us into doing puzzles is the same system that entices us to read fiction, go to plays and movies, or read poetry?  Yes.  We are SEEKING creatures, like other mammals.

 Can it be that the brain circuitry that lures us into doing puzzles is the same system that entices us to read fiction, go to plays and movies, or read poetry?  Yes.  We are SEEKING creatures, like other mammals.

Asperger's Syndrome
The Social Network, Asperger's, and Your Brain

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on November 2, 2010

Mark Zuckerberg may have been a case of Asperger's, but that didn't stop him from changing your and my brain; Facebook in real life is making us like the Zuckerberg of the movie.

Mark Zuckerberg may have been a case of Asperger's, but that didn't stop him from changing your and my brain; Facebook in real life is making us like the Zuckerberg of the movie.

Evolutionary Psychology
Literature and the Brain

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on September 13, 2010

This posting leads to a key review of a key book, Literature and the Brain. 

This posting leads to a key review of a key book, Literature and the Brain. 

Creativity
How the Literary Darwinists Got it Wrong

Norman N Holland Ph.D. on September 6, 2010

Literary Darwinists' claims just won't stand up to common sense.  But there is a way in which evolutionary psychology demonstrates a real adaptational value for literature and literary criticism.

Literary Darwinists' claims just won't stand up to common sense.  But there is a way in which evolutionary psychology demonstrates a real adaptational value for literature and literary criticism.