{"id":44507,"date":"2014-02-10T23:04:20","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T21:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=44507"},"modified":"2014-02-10T23:04:20","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T21:04:20","slug":"the-impact-of-storytelling-on-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=44507","title":{"rendered":"The impact of #storytelling  on the  #brain."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"922\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DHeqQAKHh3M?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The emotionally charged story recounted at the beginning Dr. Paul Zak&#8217;s film\u2014of a terminally ill two-year-old named Ben and his father\u2014offers a simple yet remarkable case study in how the human brain responds to effective storytelling. As part of his study, Dr. Zak, a founding pioneer in the emerging field of neuroeconomics, closely monitored the neural activity of hundreds of people who viewed Ben&#8217;s story. What he discovered is that even the simplest narrative, if it is highly engaging and follows the classic dramatic arc outlined by the German playwright Gustav Freytag, can evoke powerful empathic responses associated with specific neurochemicals, namely cortisol and oxytocin. Those brain responses, in turn, can translate readily into concrete action\u2014in the case of Dr. Zak&#8217;s study subjects, generous donations to charity and even monetary gifts to fellow participants. By contrast, stories that fail to follow the dramatic arc of rising action\/climax\/denouement\u2014no matter how outwardly happy or pleasant those stories may be\u2014elicit little if any emotional or chemical response, and correspond to a similar absence of action. Dr. Zak&#8217;s conclusions hold profound implications for the role of storytelling in a vast range of professional and public milieus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The emotionally charged story recounted at the beginning Dr. Paul Zak&#8217;s film\u2014of a terminally ill two-year-old named Ben and his father\u2014offers a simple yet remarkable case study in how the human brain responds to effective storytelling. As part of his study, Dr. Zak, a founding pioneer in the emerging field of neuroeconomics, closely monitored the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-presentations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":120170,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=120170","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":0},"title":"Why every brand should embrace storytelling","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"18\/11\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mindjet Storytelling Slideshare by from JESS3 Interesting thoughts by @JESS3 Why every brand should embrace storytelling was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":120185,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=120185","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":1},"title":"The future of storytelling","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"17\/11\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"via the classyissue The future of storytelling was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/66.media.tumblr.com\/516303881cf9fc9e1a652de4b21a02ce\/tumblr_nez3yd9pzr1qh48u5o1_500.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":120604,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=120604","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":2},"title":"the future of storytelling","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"09\/10\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by designcrush the future of storytelling was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Screen Shot 2014-10-09 at 12.04.48 \u03bc.\u03bc.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thecuriousbrain.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Screen-Shot-2014-10-09-at-12.04.48-%CE%BC.%CE%BC..png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":120880,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=120880","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":3},"title":"Wisdom in the Age of Information: Maria Popova (Future of StoryTelling 2014)","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"17\/09\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Maria Popova: Wisdom in the Age of Information from Drew Christie on Vimeo. by Maria Popova of brainpickings video by Drew Christie Wisdom in the Age of Information: Maria Popova (Future of StoryTelling 2014) was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128573,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=128573","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":4},"title":"Christoph Martin Schmid","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"04\/10\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Christoph Martin Schmid is from Berlin and specializes in conceptual photographic storytelling! Go get inspired here Christoph Martin Schmid was originally published on The Curious Brain","rel":"","context":"In &quot;all other stuff&quot;","block_context":{"text":"all other stuff","link":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/behance.vo.llnwd.net\/profiles4\/236773\/projects\/729570\/845b699e249db3440a8337569cfd626a.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/behance.vo.llnwd.net\/profiles4\/236773\/projects\/729570\/845b699e249db3440a8337569cfd626a.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/behance.vo.llnwd.net\/profiles4\/236773\/projects\/729570\/845b699e249db3440a8337569cfd626a.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":123670,"url":"https:\/\/thecuriousbrain.com\/?p=123670","url_meta":{"origin":44507,"position":5},"title":"vimeo awards predictions part A","author":"thebrainbehind","date":"07\/05\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Music video FASHION ADVERTISING MOTION GRAPHICS Part B and part C in a few days..I wonder if I Im right What are yours predictions? 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