Why Do Books Make Us Feel Emotions?
-
Loading... - Kaito Daigo
- 21 Jun 2022
- 233 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
I, for one, do not need to be convinced that books make us feel emotions. I’ve felt the entire spectrum of them in my years of being a reader. I’m going to continue to feel familiar and unfamiliar emotions as I engage with writing that navigates the fragility of the human experience. I’m fascinated by the how and the why. How are words printed on paper or displayed on screens making the metaphorical tides in my heart rise and fall? What part of an author’s toolkit lets them do this? Why do some books make us feel more than others? Let’s delve in.
A study published in Frontiers focuses on the cognitive and affective processes involved in reading. They found that ToM regions of the brain are closely associated with reading stories that bring out negative emotions. Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others, and to know that others have beliefs that are different from one’s own. When we read, we essentially do this very thing. We understand that the characters we’re reading about are fictional. We can assess their mental state in the context of its story and know that it is different from our own.
We can, also, simultaneously engage with the story’s emotional arcs as they draw out our feelings. These feelings, especially when it comes to stories with negative emotional valence, appear because of two primary reasons: moral reasoning and empathy. We empathise with the characters and try to figure out if the consequences of their actions are morally justified or not. This is an inherently emotionally charged process. Our amygdala is particularly engaged when dealing with negative emotions.
It’s also interesting to note that the anterior superior temporal cortex has two very different cognitive functions: sentence processing and social-emotional processing. As we break down sentence structure to understand its meaning, our socio-emotional centres are also being charged. This provides further evidence into how reading makes us feel all the feels. Read More…
