Impacts of Literary Fiction on the Brain: An English 112 Analysis

This assignment is a research paper exploring the impacts of literary fiction on the human brain, drawing on the student's personal reading history and experiences. The paper begins with an introduction detailing the student's early exposure to reading and its influence on their life, followed by an analysis of research articles that examine how literary fiction enhances mentalizing abilities, particularly empathy. The assignment references studies that highlight the cognitive benefits of reading and the ways in which literary fiction can simulate experiences, prompt personality changes, and facilitate indirect communication. It also discusses the influence of popular culture literature and the reader's role in shaping narratives. The paper concludes by reflecting on the student's learning and the impact of a specific literary work, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's 'The Arrangers of Marriage,' on their understanding of human behavior and social dynamics. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of literary fiction on the brain and its potential therapeutic applications.

Name of the Student 1 Impacts of Literary Fiction on the
Brain
Name of the Professor
English 112 (day and time of the class)
Date: 29/3/2020

Name of the Student 2 Impacts of Literary Fiction on the
Brain
Table of Contents
Impacts of Literary Culture on Brain.........................................................................................3
Block 1...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction........................................................................................................................3
Block 2.......................................................................................................................................4
Impacts of Literary Fiction.....................................................................................................4
Block 3.......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
A Reader’s Response to Fictional Literature.............................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

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Brain
Impacts of Literary Culture on Brain
Block 1
Introduction
Reading and narration have always been a huge part of my life for as long as I
remember. I have been blessed and am grateful to be born in a family where almost everyone
is passionate about reading, and I think even before I learned to talk, I knew where to find my
mother and father at the end of the day. My mother, especially because she was a stay at
home mother used to read me at least twice a day, and before I knew it, the habit was
inculcated into me, and I could not go without reading even for a day after that. Being an avid
reader, my mother used to have a subscription to newspapers and magazines and several
journals as well. She read to me from every single of them. I used to wait for weekly
magazines and special issues in the newspaper during the weekend to see the comic column.
The inclination towards comics and surreal entities grew with my age, and I fell into science-
fiction and surreal literature. Apart from the assigned reading, I indulge in a lot of other
books, and following the customary habit of my house, my magazine subscription, along with
my comics add to the pile we have in our house now. I also grew up observing and listening
to my parents having enriched conversations about the different genres, and because of them,
I also fell into reading philosophical books. After this course, I can now better understand
why I shaped out the way I did. I have always been eager to sign up for more classes and
have been in the habit of reading all the suggestions prescribed by the professors. I have
noticed myself getting affected by a different phenomenon that others can easily let go, and it
led me to struggle with being normal among my peers. The research provided me with the
perspective which clarified my understanding of the ways one gets affected by the readings.

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Brain
It is because reading opens more avenue in which our understanding indulges in, and we can
empathize and sympathize with circumstances better.
Block 2
Impacts of Literary Fiction
In the article, 'The Use of "literary fiction" to Promote Mentalizing Ability,' the
authors establishes the vital role played by reading literary function, and it impacts the way
an individual grows mentalizing abilities (Pino and Monica 2). Several abilities are associated
with human life and the lack of which makes it harder to thrive as a healthy individual of the
society. The authors establish the growth in mentalizing abilities, specifically empathy among
individuals who are exposed to literary fiction depicting plots and characters undergoing
situation which involves the display of social emotions such as sacrifices and empathetic
behavior (Pino and Monica 6). Lack of empathy and understanding of social behavior in
individuals causes them to feel isolated, and their psychological health is shown to grow
detrimental. The article refutes any doubts and dilemma of the working of literary fiction and
its effect on the brain with the help of research-based findings displaying considerable
improvement through pre and post experiments findings. It also leads to the establishment
that literary fiction is depicting characters experiencing situations that could is realistic and
resembles the daily life of the society in which the reader lives can induce in them the
understanding of the importance of decision taken by the character (Pino and Monica 4). The
article clearly shows how literary fiction can be utilized as a low budget rehabilitation and
therapeutic session for individuals suffering from diseases like Autism and Schizophrenia
which makes their brain unable to understand mentalizing abilities such as empathy,
sympathy, happiness, sadness, in short, the emotions and the understanding of those which
makes life for human society easier.

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Brain
In the same way, Maja and Keith's article "Art in Fiction: From Indirect
Communication to Changes of the Self," they established the same points before Maria and
Mazza in the year 2014 (498). Their approach towards understanding was not based on pre
and post-tests. Their article established the impact of generating the feeling of empathy
towards others were based on the theory of mind approach and showed that the psychological
aspect of the narratives present in fiction which starts the mechanism in the human mind,
which improves their ability to empathize with others. There are three specific ways in which
the article shows the working of literary fiction on the human mind. The first is literary
fiction as a simulation of other-selves and other minds (Djikic and Keith 501). He explains
the literary narratives to be a kind of simulation where people are reading them were the
computer on which it was run, and they would be able to go through the same experiences as
the characters in the story. It induces in them the understanding of the feeling to be able to
relate to it in real life. While in the case of science fiction and nonfiction, the character would
not be able to relate to the psychological aspect due to the plot of the story being based on an
unrealistic plane. The second way in which fiction impacts the brain is by prompting
fluctuation in personality. It establishes that reading fiction at least temporarily activates the
dynamic nature of the individual (Djikic and Keith 501). The last way is the impact of literary
fiction as an indirect communication where the reader is made to understand different
situations with the help of narrative and intrigued by the change of feeling in the characters.
The impact of fiction on the brain, however, is shown to be establishing distinctively
another form of the result by Duncan as a guest columnist, in his article, "Your Brain on
Fiction." the article shows readers' response and its narration by one of his readers in the past,
starting from childhood to adulthood (41). It shows a different side of reading and its
perception of the readers. He shows how reading lets the readers live in the place which does
not remind them of the brutal reality of their own life. Duncan gives the example of the first

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book an individual lives and how the memory of that book stays with them in the form of
images that the person can conjure while reading it (Smith 39). In conclusion, from the
different experiences, it reflects that readers of fiction grow fond of narratives to escape from
a part of life that is not tolerable to them.
Heath and Jennifer, in their article, "Brain and behavior: The coherence of teenage
responses to young adult literature." shows how the popular culture brought about a change in
the way literary fiction was used in many aspects to induce a change in mentalizing abilities
of readers (150). The articles show that the process as complex as reading and its evaluation
of cognitive change in the brain can be assessed with the reversal in the power of control. In
the popular culture literature, readers are the ones who influence the flow of narratives with
the help of social media platforms by conveying their authors the gratification they look
forward to forming the writing (Heath and Jennifer 153). Popular culture literature makes the
readers relate to the instability of their life in the sense that they use narrations in the mode of
three or four views, this way they help the reader grow a strong memory in which they can
understand and relate why a certain character turns out the way do.
The article "Politics and pop culture: Citizenship, satire, and social change" by
Yenerall shows how popular culture literature helps the readers understand the importance of
being involved and aware of the socio-political situations of the nation (93). It has also been
observed that people and especially young adults are the target audience of pop culture, and
their exposure gives them the idea of things as abstract for them as war zones and the
workings inside the government. The most important feature of popular culture literature is
the use of simple words that the readers can understand and remembers for a long period
(Yenerall 97). A prominent example of the fact that readers influence the way they want the
narrative to work is the availability of numerous examples of writings being turned into films
owing to the success rate based on their popularity among readers.

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Fisher and Catherine, in their article, "Human Nature and Pop Culture." shows how
human psychology is affected by the display of the popular culture literature (104). The
article underlines one of the most interesting things to come across, and that is its
dependability on evolutionary psychology. Most of the literary works are based on three
primary groups of complication, which is unraveled by the characters of the works. These
include survival problems, which leads to mating and end of the world situation and lastly,
drastic change in the form of social living. These are shown with the help of illustrations,
videos, lyrics in the song, and it appeals and influences the same reaction, which was induced
by reading, showing that the change in popular culture literature is simply in the medium of
expression (Fisher and Catherine 107).
Block 3
Conclusion
The articles provided an explanation of various things that goes unnoticed daily.
However, one of the most interesting factors extracted from the reading of the articles is the
discovery of the prospective use of literary fiction to help an individual with social behavior
problems. Reading literary fiction has been established to induce readers with empathy and
understanding of emotions which are lacking in patients who have Schizophrenia and
Autism. These patients, due to late neurons, receptions, are unable to understand emotions,
which makes them unable to empathize with others. It leads to their isolation, which again
results in making their lives, and their psychological health is deteriorated. The therapy for
such diseases tends to be expensive, but including reading in the therapy will help cut the cost
of these therapies. Another important lesson from the research is the approach of popular
culture whereby we, as readers, are exposed to things which one would have never indulged
in. It helps me understand literature and the meaning of the work better. The following

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discussion of a piece of literary fiction will show how reading during a fifteen-week literature
course impacted me.
A Reader’s Response to Fictional Literature
The literary fiction which impacted me the most in our syllabus was ‘The Arrangers
of Marriage’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is the story of a Nigerian woman who comes
to America after an arranged marriage with her husband Ofodile in the hope of getting a
better life as expected by the most eastern population. She marries to escape living with her
uncle and aunt, who made her life unbearable, but when she moved to New York, she is
disillusioned by the state of her living. She lived in a barely furnished flat, and her husband
worked as a resident doctor in a public hospital. However, the part of the short story which
impacts me most is her suffering, which does seem to stop anywhere. In her home back in
Nigeria, she was forced to understand the ways of the Nigerian society, and when she came to
New York, she was forced by her Ofodile to hide her Nigerian culture as much as she can and
adapts to the American culture.
The outside material which I was reading along with the course syllabus, which left a
huge imprint on me, was Dostoevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment.’ Though Raskolnikov, as the
central character, represents the alienation and the suffering of the psychological effects of
societal happening, it is Sonya’s character, which calls to attention the reader’s sympathy.
Her life was made of a huge tragic plot where she could be seen as the victim of nihilism in
the party of her father as well as the person she had any kind of romantic notion about in her
life. Her sacrifice to makes sure that her family does not die of hunger and poverty takes the
form of choice to accept prostitution as a way of living. Her sympathetic nature makes her
feel empathic towards Raskolnikov, and she starts caring for him even when she learns about
his crime.

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References
Djikic, Maja, and Keith Oatley. "The art in fiction: From indirect communication to changes
of the self." Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 8.4 (2014): 498.
Fisher, Maryanne L., and Catherine Salmon. "Human nature and pop culture." (2012): 104-
108.
Heath, Shirley Brice, and Jennifer Lynn Wolf. "Brain and behaviour: The coherence of
teenage responses to young adult literature." Contemporary Adolescent Literature and
Culture. Routledge, 2016. 149-164.
Pino, Maria Chiara, and Monica Mazza. "The use of “literary fiction” to promote mentalizing
ability." PloS one 11.8 (2016).
Smith, Duncan. "Your brain on Fiction." Reference & User Services Quarterly 49.1 (2009):
38-42.
Yenerall, Kevan M. "Politics and pop culture: Citizenship, satire, and social change." Juniata
Voices 14 (2014): 93.