Brain's Reaction To Fictional And Nonfictional Experiences

Name: Professor: Course: Date: What we experience or encounter in our daily lives may be fictional or nonfictional, that is, it may either be real or literary. Our response to what we come across or what we get involved in is usually due to the way our brains process the involvement. Our brains interpret or react to fictional and nonfictional experiences differently. However, the distinction the brain tries to make between reading experience and facing or undergoing it in real life is not that much. While reading through a book or a novel, a colorful or gaudy replication of reality is produced. You have images of what you think the author used in the story to help you understand the message in a much simple and clear manner. The descriptions and inventive similes or comparisons used in the novels provide a vibrant imitation. According to Paul (2012), “novels go beyond simulating reality to give readers an experience unavailable off the page: the opportunity to enter fully into other people’s thoughts and feelings.” The brain also responds to other fictions as if they were real characters such as movement and smell. An author may use vocabulary, synonyms or metaphors to try to describe a particular smell further. As a reader, you may already have had an idea of the particular smell without having to sense it. The novel, states Paul, “is, of course, an unequalled medium for the exploration of human social and emotional life” (2012). Our brains respond to the description or illustration of fictional characters and treat them as if they were real, something which we experience in our daily lives. Correspondingly, we may also encounter different life experiences which the brain can easily respond to without having the real sense of it, for instance, art. Art may be used to describe a lot of things such a building, a culture or even a people. However, when you do not have such an image at hand, and you have been given a mere description about your brain will quickly try to depict it. Your brain will inevitably help you try to comprehend and figure it out with ease. What we experience in a descriptive format and what we encounter in the real world do not have a major difference. The brain tries to synthesize information stimulated by art or literature in a similar manner as it tries to synthesize any other image. However, our ...