Date/Time
Date(s) - 10 May 2013
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Location
The CUNY Graduate Center
Category(ies) No Categories
Please join us for a talk by Professor Barbara Simerka (Queens College) on Friday, May 10th, at 2 pm at the CUNY GC in room 5414:
Your Brain on Cervantes: Cognitive Theory and Don Quixote
Don Quixote is a text that both illustrates the utility of current cognitive theories of reading and also offers one of the earliest known examples of a narrative that self-consciously represents norms and aberrations in the reading process as an object of scrutiny. The Paradox of Fiction– the fact that readers respond to fictional characters as if they were real beings– has been a topic of analysis since Plato. T his talk will present an overview of the cognitive paradigm of mirror neurons, which provides new insights concerning emotional and psychological responses to fiction, including: participatory response and immersion, empathy and emotional contagion, Theory of Mind, and metarepresentation. Mirror neuron networks have been found to play an active role in several aspects of human cognition In social interaction and in literary texts, mirror functions become visible and significant under conditions that are relevant to the study of Don Quixote. In human history, social shifts often arise because new technologies stimulate a more conscious level of cognitive engagement. The printing press is certainly one of the most important technological innovations of modern times, because it offered entirely new social structures of writing and reading. The rapid urbanization of the early modern era also fomented many new forms of social identity and interaction, requiring humans and literary characters alike to expend more conscious effort than normal to comprehend the intentions and emotions of those they encountered. In addition, humans pay special attention to anomalous cognitive acts; iconic historical figures and literary characters are often those who display unique forms of perception. Heightened or impaired responses to mirror neuron functions can produce aberrations that our culture may define as genius or madness, or a uncuerdo loco. Cervantes lays bare many aspects of the cognitive activities in the reading process; in addition, his innovative narrative techniques caused readers to invent new reading tactics– and to reflect upon them.
The talk will be followed by a reception.
Sponsored by the CUNY Early Modern Interdisciplinary Group (EMIG).