Storytelling

One reason for that is obvious: if you’re popular — and storytellers are — you’re more likely to have a partner. Another potential explanation is that the rest of the community is inclined to look favorably on the storyteller’s family and extend help when needed in the form of childcare, pitching in to look after a sick family member, or even... See more

Both the entorhinal and hippocampal self-organizing maps amplify and learn to categorize the most energetic and frequent co-occurrences of their inputs. Top–down attentional mechanisms from hippocampus to MEC help to dynamically stabilize these spatial memories in both the model and neurophysiological data. Spatial learning through MEC to... See more

The brain, it seems, does not make much of a distinction between experiencing something and reading or listening to something. When you read a word such as “lavender,” “cinnamon” or “soap,” not only the language-processing areas of your brain are activated, but also those devoted to dealing with smells.

Of 89 stories, around 70% concerned social behaviour, in terms of food-sharing, marriage, hunting and interactions with in-laws or members of other groups.

A human tribe with a good story was the most powerful thing in the world

Researchers have long known that the “classical” language regions, like Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area, are involved in how the brain interprets written words. What scientists have come to realize in the last few years is that narratives activate many other parts of our brains as well, suggesting why the experience of reading can feel so alive.... See more

archetypes provide storytellers with a framework. By understanding these universal themes, writers can craft narratives that resonate across cultures and time, ensuring their stories have a timeless appeal.

For most of our human history, storytelling was oral. Myths were spoken or sung by diverse storytellers who could select and modulate their narrative to best suit a given audience, emphasizing some aspects and ignoring others.