Beyond the Frame: Cognitive Science, Common Sense and Fiction
TL;DR: The authors argue that certain types of modernist and post-modernist self-reflexive fiction paradoxically provoke focused schema-consis tent reading and foreground stereotype frames to alleviate the cognitive load that schema-inconsistent information presents to the reader.
Abstract: According to popular definition, the subject matter of fiction is invention, whereas nonfiction relies on factual ("real-world") data. Recent developments in cognitive narratology (Ryan, Fludernik, Jahn, Herman) considerably reduce the value of sharp distinction between fiction and nonfiction, however. The concepts of "frame", "schema" and "script" provide a link between the "real-life" and "fictional" experience. As Pierre Ouellet observes, the "real-life" knowledge contains a signifi cant number of propositions that are taken for granted and are employed by the com munity or individuals either intuitively (as rules of thumb) or rationally as "shortcuts" of experience; these often do not withstand critical scrutiny and may qualify as "natural fictions" based solely on the immediacy and fullness of belief. From this perspective, fiction is continuous with accepted opinions, stereotypes and other components of folk knowledge (i.e. beliefs used as "default knowledge") that people rely on in everyday life. My hypothesis is that certain types of modernist and postmodernist self-reflexive fiction paradoxically provoke focused schema-consis tent reading and foreground stereotype frames to alleviate the cognitive load that schema-inconsistent information presents to the reader. In this case naturalizing reading and focusing on the commonsense frames as secure and reliable as com pared with the strange or indeterminate data beyond the frame is provocatively sup ported by the text itself; however, if sustained, it leads to impoverished interpretation of the events and diminishes the cognitive effect of inconsistent data.
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18 citations
23 Sep 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the narrative function of cinema in twenty-first century fiction, and demonstrate that the literary use of cinema greatly affects narration and the reading experience: it disturbs the conventional narrative hierarchy and the subordination between the primary level and the embedded one.
Abstract: In my doctoral dissertation I explore the narrative function of cinema in twentyfirst century fiction. In this study literary representations of films are regarded as a narrative strategy through which literary texts accentuate, reflect, and give rise to their principal themes and questions. Since filmic insertions have a noticeable impact upon the narrative construction and hence turn out to be pivotal in the reader’s inferential process, I also investigate this narrative phenomenon in the context of reader’s meaning-making. I have chosen four novels for my study, namely The Book of Illusions (2002) by Paul Auster, Point Omega (2010) by Don DeLillo, The Understudy (2005) by David Nicholls, and The Ice Cream Man by Katri Lipson, published in Finnish in 2012 as Jäätelökauppias and translated into English in 2014. In these works the dominant meanings are closely linked to the representations of cinema, and films appear both at the discourse level and within the fictional world. Owing to the diversity of the chosen texts in terms of style and genre, my study provides a comprehensive view of the ways in which recent fiction has utilised “moving images” in narration. In this study I draw on the theoretical concepts of intersubjectivity, framing, mise en abyme, possible worlds theory, and indexicality in order to analyse the narrative function of films in the novels and the subsequent effects in the reader’s hermeneutic process. I demonstrate that the literary use of cinema greatly affects narration and the reading experience: it disturbs the conventional narrative hierarchy and the subordination between the primary level and the embedded one. Simultaneously, it violates ontological stability, which separates the fictional “real” from the filmic “unreal”. My case studies testify to the importance of the reader’s role as an active interpreter whose knowledge of and experiences with cinema contribute to the textual processing of the novels. By pointing out the intricate interaction between audiovisual and verbal sign systems in these texts, I show how the audiovisual upsurge in contemporary society has altered how we read literature.
16 citations
Abstract: This article examines literature for children and young adults that depicts the devastation of natural disasters, particularly the 2005 hurricane Katrina which hit the eastern United States and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Especially for audiences of young children, representations of death and massive destruction can be a controversial enterprise. Focusing on three types of narratives—animal picture books, eye witness accounts, and young adult fiction—this study explores how children's and young adult literature navigates such difficult issues by retelling stories of large-scale disasters as scenarios of trauma and recovery.
12 citations
TL;DR: This paper developed a broad, non-representational perspective on narrative, necessary to account for the narrative "ubiquity" hypothesis, which considers narrativity as a feature of intelligent behaviour and as a formative principle of symbolic representation.
Abstract: Drawing on non-Darwinian cultural-evolutionary approaches, the paper develops a broad, non-representational perspective on narrative, necessary to account for the narrative “ubiquity” hypothesis. It considers narrativity as a feature of intelligent behaviour and as a formative principle of symbolic representation (“narrative proclivity”). The narrative representation retains a relationship with the “primary” pre-symbolic narrativity of the basic orientational-interpretive (semiotic) behaviour affected by perceptually salient objects and “fits” in natural environments. The paper distinguishes between implicit narrativity (as the basic form of perceptual-cognitive mapping) of intelligent behaviour or non-narrative media, and the “narrative” as a symbolic representation. Human perceptual-attentional routines are enhanced by symbolic representations: due to its attention-monitoring and information-gathering function, narrative serves as a cognitive-exploratory tool facilitating cultural dynamics. The rise of new media and mass communication on the Web has thrown the ability of narrative to shape the public sphere through the ongoing process of negotiated sensemaking and interpretation in a particularly sharp relief.
6 citations
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TL;DR: This paper reported that students showed the greatest agreement in ranking the Americans, English, and Germans for both public and private preferences, and the least agreement in public preferences occurred for the Jews, Japanese, and Chinese.
Abstract: Ten ethnic groups were placed in rank order by 60 Princeton students on the basis of preference for association with their members. The ranking was similar to the results reported by other investigators. Minor exceptions occurred in the case of the Jews and Japanese, who were placed somewhat lower and higher, respectively, than in other studies. A change in instructions designed to elicit private or personal responses as against public attitudes had a significant effect only in the case of the negroes, who were placed a rank higher in private than in public preferences. Students showed the greatest agreement in ranking the Americans, English, and Germans for both public and private preferences. The least agreement in public preferences occurred for the Jews, Japanese, and Chinese, and in private preferences for the negroes, Jews, and Chinese. A list of 84 traits given as the typical characteristics of the ten nationalities by a group of students was rated by another group of students on the basis of their desirability as associates. From these ratings scores were assigned to the ten nationalities, the relative weights of which agreed closely with the preferential private and public rank orders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)
278 citations
TL;DR: This paper showed that the conceptual meaning of consistent information is extracted to a greater degree under such conditions than inconsistent information, whereas inconsistent information receives greater attention (Experiments 1-3) and perceptual encoding (Experiment 4) when resources are depleted.
Abstract: According to the encoding flexibility model, stereotypes are efficient because they facilitate, in different ways, the encoding of both stereotype-consistent and stereotype-inconsistent information when capacity is low. Because stereotypical information is conceptually fluent, it may be easily understood, even when resources are scant. As a result, processing resources may shift from stereotypical toward counterstereotypical information, which is difficult to comprehend under such conditions. Thus, whereas inconsistent information receives greater attention (Experiments 1-3) and perceptual encoding (Experiment 4) when resources are depleted, the conceptual meaning of consistent information is extracted to a greater degree under such conditions (Experiment 5). Potential moderating roles of stereotype strength and perceiver motivations are discussed, as are the implications of these results for dual process models of stereotyping.
224 citations
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16 Mar 1999
187 citations