Wrapping up my series on story and memory with two last bits of research. As with Part 2 of the series, Stephanie West Allen was probably the source of these items: Autobiographical memory is a uniquely human form of memory. So assert Researchers Robyn Fivusha, Tilmann Habermas, Theodore E.A. Waters, … Continue reading
Category Archives: Storytelling and Thinking/Brain Function
We Fill in Memory Gaps with Stories: Story + Memory, Part 2
Around the same time I started pondering the role of story in memory, as I discussed in Part 1, Stephanie West Allen, who frequently shares her fascinating finds from the story world, was sending me numerous links about memory research and its connection to story and storytelling. She’s the source … Continue reading
Story: An Aid to Memory or Memory Itself? Story + Memory, Part 1
As a student of story, I’ve long known that information conveyed in story form is more memorable than other forms. But I got especially interested in the relationship between story and memory when I read Joshua Safran Foer’s Moonwalking with Einstein, about Foer’s year of training himself to compete in … Continue reading
Stories for the “Casual Reader?”
So, I was listening to the audiobook of Wikinomics today. My best friend raved about it more than a year ago, but I hadn’t listened to it before now because I generally save audiobooks for road trips, and even then, only road trips when I’m driving and obviously can’t read. … Continue reading
Are We Now in the New Storytelling Economy?
Just read a fascinating and resonant (to me anyway) article by Frank A. Mills in the online Urban Paradoxes magazine (reprinted from the blog Flaneur). (Beware that some of the links in the article are a bit funky). In the article, “Quantum Storytelling: The New Way of Thinking,” Mills asserts … Continue reading
More Scientific Evidence of Story’s Effectiveness: Story Learning May Enhance Memory Retention Up to Seven-fold
We remember stories better than we do other forms of learning-delivery, report Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide in their blog, Eide Neurolearning Blog. I wish they’d cited the exact research studies they’re referring to The research reports they cite are below the blog entry the above link goes to. The … Continue reading
Human Need for Storytelling Behind Debunked “Stages” Theories, Scientists Say
So, it turns out that “stages” theories, particularly Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s well-known five stages of grief, have no basis in research, according to Michael Shermer in Scientific American. We humans apparently come up with these stages because, Shermer writes, “we are pattern-seeking, storytelling primates trying to make sense of an often … Continue reading
Coming Tardily to the Scientific American Storytelling Article
While the goal of bloggers is often to virally spread breaking news, I find myself resisting blogging about the most current happenings in the storytelling world because, for better or worse, I dislike blogging about what everyone else is blogging about (such as the YouTube videos of Ira Glass on … Continue reading
Telling Your Story Keeps Your Brain Fit
Stephanie West Allen blogged about (and turned me onto) an article by John Darling about to keep our brains fit as we advance in years. One of Darling’s suggestions (quoting “Brain Fitness” teacher Lorraine Jarvi) is to write your memoirs: If reading is stimulating, writing is stimulation tenfold. Jarvi says … Continue reading
False Memory and Jackie Kennedy Onassis Stories
Stephanie West Allen turned me on to this entertaining video from Ira Glass’s This American Life Showtime series. It tells the tale of a guy whose wife experienced an embarrassing incident while waving to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on the streets of New York City. In the story, the man is … Continue reading