Empathy at the confluence of neuroscience and empirical literary studies

The objective of this article is to review extant empirical studies of empathy in narrative reading in light of (i) contemporary literary theory, and (ii) neuroscientific studies of empathy, and to discuss how a closer interplay between neuroscience and literary studies may enhance our understanding of empathy in narrative reading. An introduction to some of the philosophical roots of empathy is followed by tracing its application in contemporary literary theory, in which scholars have pursued empathy with varying degrees of conceptual precision, often within the context of embodied/enactive cognition. The presentation of empirical literary studies of empathy is subsequently contextualized by an overview of psychological and neuroscientific aspects of empathy. Highlighting points of convergence and divergence, the discussion illustrates how findings of empirical literary studies align with recent neuroscientific research. The article concludes with some prospects for future empirical research, suggesting that digitization may contribute to advancing the scientific knowledge of empathy in narrative reading

Reading and company: embodiment and social space in silent reading practices

Reading, even when silent and individual, is a social phenomenon and has often been studied as such. Complementary to this view, research has begun to explore how reading is embodied beyond simply being ‘wired’ in the brain. This article brings the social and embodied perspectives together in a very literal sense. Reporting a qualitative study of reading practices across student focus groups from six European countries, it identifies an underexplored factor in reading behaviour and experience. This factor is the sheer physical presence, and concurrent activity, of other people in the environment where one engages in individual silent reading. The primary goal of the study was to explore the role and possible associations of a number of variables (text type, purpose, device) in selecting generic (e.g. indoors vs outdoors) as well as specific (e.g. home vs library) reading environments. Across all six samples included in the study, participants spontaneously attested to varied, and partly surprising, forms of sensitivity to company and social space in their daily efforts to align body with mind for reading. The article reports these emergent trends and discusses their potential implications for research and practice

Interview with Vittorio Gallese

How do stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers?  This essay explores that question with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research.  The authors lay the groundwork for a neurocritical embodied narratology that incorporates both the critiques of traditional humanism within literary studies and of classic cognitivism within neuroscience.  Their methodological approach focuses on Feeling of Body (in contrast to Theory of Mind), which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system.  Feeling of Body is also a foundational aspect of liberated Embodied Simulation, a process enabling a more direct and less cognitively mediated access to the world of narrated others and mediating our capacity to share the meaning of their actions, basic motor intentions, feelings, and emotions, thus grounding our identification with and connectedness to narrated characters.  Through case studies of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Dante Alighieri’s Vita nuova, the authors argue that literary texts rely on Feelings of Body communicated by the authors to their readers, and, in turn, experienced by readers simulating those experiences through the sensory-motor networks common to human beings

Assessing Empathy: A Slumdog Questionnaire

<p align="left"> </p><p><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Abstract (E): </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Applying recent theories of embodied cognition to Danny Boyle’s 2008 film </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Slumdog Millionaire</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">, this essay contrasts Vittorio Gallese’s notion of the "shared manifold" of human experience to earlier models of identification drawn from Freudian psychology and Alvin Goldman’s simulationist theory of mind, and also proposes a fourth notion of empathy: "getting under the skin." Focusing on </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Slumdog</span></span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">’s "blue boy" scene, which evoked strikingly different reactions from viewers around the world, this essay argues that viewer identification and empathy, while possibly universal phenomena, are simultaneously subject to cultural and historical constraints. Creating emotional bonds between viewers and filmic protagonists thus remains a complicated challenge for filmmakers aiming to reach a global audience. </span></span></p><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><font size="3"><p>Abstract (F):</p></font></strong></span><p> </p></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Cet article applique les théories récentes de cognition corporelle au film </span></span><em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Slumdog Millionaire </span></span></em><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">(Danny Boyle, 2008). Il oppose la notion du "partage multiple" de l’expérience humaine ("shared manifold") de Vittorio Gallese à des modèles plus anciens basés sur le concept freudien d’identification mais aussi à la théorie simulationniste de l’esprit d’Alvin Goldman, tout en proposant une quatrième forme d’empathie qui consiste à se « glisser sous la peau » de quelqu’un d’autre. Analysant une scène qui a suscité des réactions très diverses parmi les spectateurs du monde entier, l’article démontre que tant l’identification que l’empathie, qui sont sans doute des phénomènes universellement partagés, subissent aussi des contraintes culturelles et historiques. La production de liens émotionnels entre spectateurs et personnages reste donc un défi très complexe pour tout réalisateur désireux de toucher un public global. </span></span&gt

Interview with Vittorio Gallese

How do stories often evoke intense feelings and sensations in their readers?  This essay explores that question with a new combination of insights from neuroscience and literary theory, while also assessing the difficulties as well as the potential gains of such interdisciplinary research.  The authors lay the groundwork for a neurocritical embodied narratology that incorporates both the critiques of traditional humanism within literary studies and of classic cognitivism within neuroscience.  Their methodological approach focuses on Feeling of Body (in contrast to Theory of Mind), which may be considered the outcome of a basic functional mechanism instantiated by our brain-body system.  Feeling of Body is also a foundational aspect of liberated Embodied Simulation, a process enabling a more direct and less cognitively mediated access to the world of narrated others and mediating our capacity to share the meaning of their actions, basic motor intentions, feelings, and emotions, thus grounding our identification with and connectedness to narrated characters.  Through case studies of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Dante Alighieri’s Vita nuova, the authors argue that literary texts rely on Feelings of Body communicated by the authors to their readers, and, in turn, experienced by readers simulating those experiences through the sensory-motor networks common to human beings