Literary Anthrozoology: Do Fiction and Literature Have a Place in Anthrozoology?

This is the final version. Available from Canisius College via the link in this recordLiterature has been stimulating minds for centuries, as has science. This essay explores the need for both in the emerging field of anthrozoology. Anthrozoology is unique in its interdisciplinary approach to the sciences. By integrating zoology, anthropology, psychology, biology and others, this emerging field of study is examining interconnectivity in new and exciting ways. Literature and literary fiction play a large part in mental development. Literature is often a child’s first introduction to the other animals that share the planet and can act as a bridge to future animal interactions. People who read literary fiction show improved theory-of-mind and empathy scores. Reading and writing literary fiction improves mental processing. Literature can serve as a catharsis, an escape, and a mind-builder. Because of this, literature is a critically important tool in the anthrozoology toolbox

Unlocking Recovery: A Role-Informed Drama Therapy Method for Adults with Addictions

This Capstone Thesis Project discusses the creation and implementation of a drama therapy method with adults receiving treatment for substance use disorders at an intensive outpatient level of care. Disidentifying from the role of Addict proves a difficult task when this identity is reinforced by widespread social stigma, permanent changes to the brain’s reward system, and a system of criminalization resulting in financial and political disenfranchisement. A drama therapy framework, Robert Landy’s Role Theory, and a trauma treatment framework, Janina Fisher’s Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, were used as grounding theories from which to create a method intended to help clients with substance use disorders to disidentify from the role of Addict. The literature and the results of the implementation of the method suggest that a role-informed drama therapy approach may offer clients a way to regain access to roles and parts of self that were rendered dormant during active addiction. Unlocking these hidden roles may help clients develop the strength and self-efficacy needed to survive without the addiction. Based on the findings from the implementation of this method, a set of principles is proposed for maximizing efficacy and minimizing risk when implementing a drama therapy approach with this population

Spontaneous Cognition and Epistemic Agency in the Cognitive Niche

According to Thomas Metzinger, many human cognitive processes in the waking state are spontaneous and are deprived of the experience of epistemic agency. He considers mind wandering as a paradigm example of our recurring loss of epistemic agency. I will enrich this view by extending the scope of the concept of epistemic agency to include cases of depressive rumination and creative cognition, which are additional types of spontaneous cognition. Like mind wandering, they are characterized by unique phenomenal and functional properties that give rise to varying degrees of epistemic agency. The main claim of this paper will be that the experience of being an epistemic agent within a certain time frame is a relational phenomenon that emerges from the organism’s capacity to interact with its cognitive niche. To explore this relation, I develop a new framework that integrates phenomenological considerations on epistemic agency with a functional account of the reciprocal coupling of the embodied organism with its cognitive niche. This account rests upon dynamical accounts of strong embodied and embedded cognition and recent work on cognitive niche construction. Importantly, epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling are gradual phenomena ranging from weak to strong realizations. The emerging framework will be employed to analyze mind wandering, depressive rumination, and creative cognition as well as their commonalities and differences. Mind wandering and depressive rumination are cases of weak epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling. However, there are also important phenomenological, functional, and neuronal differences. In contrast, creative cognition is a case of strong epistemic agency and organism-niche coupling. By providing a phenomenological and functional analysis of these distinct types of spontaneous cognition, we can gain a better understanding of the importance of organism-niche interaction for the realization of epistemic agency

Copyright and the Creative Process

Copyright is typically described as a mechanism for encouraging the production of creative works. On this view, copyright protection should be granted to genuinely creative works but denied to non-creative ones. Yet that is not how the law works. Instead, almost anything—from test answer sheets to instruction manuals to replicas of items in the public domain—is deemed creative and therefore eligible for copyright protection. This is the consequence of a century of copyright doctrine assuming that artistic creativity is incapable of measurement, unaffected by personal motivation, and incomprehensible to novices and experts alike. Recent neuroscientific research contradicts these assumptions. It turns out that creativity can be partially measured, that authorial intent is critical to creative production, and that expertise and creative output are highly correlated. If copyright law’s goal is truly to promote creativity, it should define that foundational concept to accord with scientific fact

Deliberate Practice, Writing Self-efficacy, and Self-regulation among Internet Novelists in China: a Phenomenological Approach

The focus of this study was the role of deliberate practice, writing self-efficacy and self-regulation in the lived experiences of Chinese internet literature novelists. This qualitative, phenomenological study presented the shared perceptions of this phenomenon drawn from interviews of Chinese internet novelists. The psychological aspects of these novelists were previously unexplored and this study helps to address the gap in the literature. The phenomenological method captured the experiences of the Chinese internet novelists and added this rich detail to the existing research literature. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen Chinese internet novelists, and related documents from other Chinese internet novelists’ past interviews, autobiographies, and presentation were collected. From the interviews and documents, three core themes emerged. Interviews explored the role of deliberate practice (a special type of practice that is goal-directed and persistent, and it requires focused attention, motivation, feedback, reading and awareness of readership), writing self-efficacy (the belief in their ability to succeed in internet novel writing), and self-regulation (the process of observing, evaluating and reacting to their behavior, emotions, and thoughts in the pursuit of writing goals). Each internet novelist had his/her unique experience and stories, but they all used deliberate practice to develop their writing expertise and improve their writing performance. Some writer also described the increase in writing self-efficacy that motivated them to persist on their deliberate practice and explained how they applied self-regulation skills during their deliberate practice. These aspects of writing practice were key to the development of their writing expertise. Aspiring novelists may learn from this study about how to improve their writing performance. This study may also help educators and researchers build potential teaching models and strategies in writing. Advisor: Eric S. Buh

Kontexte kreativen Schreibens

Creative writing is booming: in writing institutes, adult education centers and schools, in therapy and integration work, as well as in writing workshops for amateurs. Universities in German-speaking countries are also are also discovering creative writing as a subject for further education and training. Contexts of Creative Writing provides a comprehensive overview of the diverse fields of creative writing and sheds light on both theory and practice. Thus, alongside contributions from various academic disciplines - such as didactics, linguistics, literary studies, media studies and medicine - there are also reports from social work, schools or the cultural sector. The spectrum of the presentations ranges from theoretical discussions and conceptualization to insights into writing workshops at various institutions and the presentation of concrete teaching models

Graphonomics and your Brain on Art, Creativity and Innovation : Proceedings of the 19th International Graphonomics Conference (IGS 2019 – Your Brain on Art)

[Italiano]: “Grafonomia e cervello su arte, creatività e innovazione”. Un forum internazionale per discutere sui recenti progressi nell'interazione tra arti creative, neuroscienze, ingegneria, comunicazione, tecnologia, industria, istruzione, design, applicazioni forensi e mediche. I contributi hanno esaminato lo stato dell'arte, identificando sfide e opportunità, e hanno delineato le possibili linee di sviluppo di questo settore di ricerca. I temi affrontati includono: strategie integrate per la comprensione dei sistemi neurali, affettivi e cognitivi in ambienti realistici e complessi; individualità e differenziazione dal punto di vista neurale e comportamentale; neuroaesthetics (uso delle neuroscienze per spiegare e comprendere le esperienze estetiche a livello neurologico); creatività e innovazione; neuro-ingegneria e arte ispirata dal cervello, creatività e uso di dispositivi di mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) indossabili; terapia basata su arte creativa; apprendimento informale; formazione; applicazioni forensi. / [English]: “Graphonomics and your brain on art, creativity and innovation”. A single track, international forum for discussion on recent advances at the intersection of the creative arts, neuroscience, engineering, media, technology, industry, education, design, forensics, and medicine. The contributions reviewed the state of the art, identified challenges and opportunities and created a roadmap for the field of graphonomics and your brain on art. The topics addressed include: integrative strategies for understanding neural, affective and cognitive systems in realistic, complex environments; neural and behavioral individuality and variation; neuroaesthetics (the use of neuroscience to explain and understand the aesthetic experiences at the neurological level); creativity and innovation; neuroengineering and brain-inspired art, creative concepts and wearable mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) designs; creative art therapy; informal learning; education; forensics