Cognitive Science, Literature, and the Arts: A Guide for Humanists.

Cognitive Science, Literature, and the Arts: A Guide for Humanists. Hogan, Patrick Colm. 2003. Cognitive Science cognitive scienceInterdisciplinary study that attempts to explain the cognitive processes of humans and some higher animals in terms of the manipulation of symbols using computational rules. , Literature, and theArts: A Guide for Humanists. London and New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Routledge. $85.00 hc.$19.95 sc. 244 pp. The cognitive revolution that has affected so many areas ofcontemporary thought is currently capturing literary studies as part ofits stronghold. In addition to the many popular cognitive scientists whohave extended the discipline's reach into the literary mind, likeSteven Pinker or George Lakoff, we have begun to see an impact oncurrent literature and also literary criticism. Patrick Colm Hogan's aptly named book, Cognitive Science,Literature, and the Arts: A Guide for Humanists, is a solid introductionto the growing range of artistic forms and functions amenable toexplanation in the cognitive sciences. For many years now, Hogan hasbeen a prolific scholar of literature who is fully conversant CONVERSANT. One who is in the habit of being in a particular place, is said to be conversant there. Barnes, 162. with whatwe have come to call "theory." His many books and articlesrewardingly engage highly theorized sub-topics within literary studies,such as influence, social and cultural identity, professionalism, law,and colonialism, from a serious philosophical, psychoanalytic, and, now,cognitive scientific perspective. Like all of Hogan's work, thecurrent volume is significantly informed by his easy familiarity withthe literature, art, and philosophy of many distinct non-Westerntraditions. The book argues for the cognitive study of the arts because of thebenefits such study offers to both the humanities and the cognitivesciences. Specifically, the issues familiarly addressed by humanists(Hogan's term for humanities scholars) are rarely treatedeffectively by neurobiologists or psychologists who see in certaininstances of art fodder for their own pet theories. Only practicinghumanists comprehend the complexity and range of humanities questionsand, as such, can be expected to see how what we are beginning to learnabout functions of the mind and body can best be applied to humanisticconcerns. Such complexity and range in turn challenges cognitivescientists to refine their models and methods. The book's opening chapter, "My Favorite Things,"introduces the procedural model that a cognitivist approach to artsuggests by analyzing the form o f John Coltrane's famous version ofthe tune "My Favorite Things." Though much less is knownspecifically about how humans process music than, say, vision, music isa good place to start because it avoids some of the issues of"meaning" that language processing entails. In the course ofintroducing readers to certain basic concerns of cognitive science, suchas short- and long- term memory structures, segmentation, andstructuration The theory of structuration, proposed by Anthony Giddens (1984) in The Constitution of Society, (mentioned also in Central Problems of Social Theory, 1979) is an attempt to reconcile theoretical dichotomies of social systems such as agency/structure, , he also offers explanations of basic art appreciationissues like boredom, improvisation, and listener variability. Chapter two, "Is It Cognitive Science Yet?", moves on toa lengthier discussion of elements of cognitive science theory that willplay a role in all of the analyses to follow. He introduces an overallframework of cognitive science approaches that helps guide the readerthrough the labyrinth of technical terminology. Briefly, three stages ofanalysis pertain to any cognitive science approach to a problem:conceiving of the problem in terms of information processing, specifyingthe exact steps (an algorithmic sequence) that will lead from input tooutput, and identifying the cognitive architecture that will benecessary for dealing with the problem. Cognitive architecture, in itsturn, is understood as having three separate components: structures,processes, and contents. Structure refers to "the generalorganizational principles of the mind" (30), such as thedistinction between long-term and short-term (working) memory. Contentusually refers to representations or symbols that have specificlocations in structures. Finally, processes are structurally constrainedoperations that are performed on contents. For example, our mentalstorehouse of words, the lexicon, is a substructu re substructure/sub¡¤struc¡¤ture/ (-struk-chur) the underlying or supporting portion of an organ or appliance; that portion of an implant denture embedded in the tissues of the jaw. sub¡¤struc¡¤turen. of our long-termmemory system that provides structural links between individual words;the activation of one word primes, or prepares, many other words foraccess. The meanings of each word, in this view, are representationalcontents, and formulating a sentence for pronunciation would be aprocess that at some point involves accessing the lexicon to retrievethe phonemic pho¡¤ne¡¤mic?adj.1. Of or relating to phonemes.2. Of or relating to phonemics.3. Serving to distinguish phonemes or distinctive features. profile for the appropriate words. Because of thecomplexities of mental contents and processes, cognitive scientistsfrequently use computer simulations to help verify that theirassumptions have been accurately specified. Hogan further identifiesthree main sorts of cognitive ar chitectures used by cognitivescientists--representational, connectionist, and neurobiological--andone "metalevel" of analysis (34), evolutionary theory, thatattempts to integrate the various hypothesized structures and processesinto a coherent phylogenetic phy¡¤lo¡¤ge¡¤net¡¤icadj.1. Of or relating to phylogeny or phylogenetics.2. Relating to or based on evolutionary development or history. account. The remainder of the chapterexamines working and long-term memory in both representational andconnectionist architectures, which he sees as reconcilable rec¡¤on¡¤cil¡¤a¡¤ble?adj.Capable of or qualified for reconciliation: reconcilable differences.rec rather thanmutually contradictory accounts. The remaining chapters, save the ultimate, employ the cognitiveframework to examine various problems of aesthetics familiar tohumanistic scholars. Chapter three, "The Author: Maestros andGeniuses," focuses on issues of creativity that have been largelyignored in currently fashionable hist ory-based literary criticism butnonetheless remain important to the non-specialist interested inhumanistic issues. Here as elsewhere, however, cognitive science isquite commensurable com¡¤men¡¤su¡¤ra¡¤ble?adj.1. Measurable by a common standard.2. Commensurate; proportionate.3. Mathematics Exactly divisible by the same unit an integral number of times. Used of two quantities. with contemporary literary theory. As Hogan notes,most cognitive approaches to creativity emphasize not the uniqueness ofthe product but the ordinariness of the cognitive procedures involved increation, a cornerstone of Noam Chomsky's original critique ofbehaviorism behaviorism,school of psychology which seeks to explain animal and human behavior entirely in terms of observable and measurable responses to environmental stimuli. Behaviorism was introduced (1913) by the American psychologist John B. . It would appear that humans have evolved a sophisticatedsystem for evaluating and dealing with novelty, so one is not surprisedthat novelty is a mark of that same system's production.Interestingly, Hogan's investigations of this level of"basic" creativity focus on processes (spreading activationand schematization sche¡¤ma¡¤tize?tr.v. sche¡¤ma¡¤tized, sche¡¤ma¡¤tiz¡¤ing, sche¡¤ma¡¤tiz¡¤esTo express in or reduce to a scheme: a diagram that schematizes the creation and consumption of wealth. ) and contents (conceptual prototypes, exempla ex¡¤em¡¤pla?n.Plural of exemplum. , andschemata) that are characteristic not of Chomsky-friendlyrepresentational architectures but the anti-Chomsky connectionist ones.Indeed, Hogan's vision of basic artistic creativity as a process ofschema alteration and extension owes a good deal to George Lakoff'sand Mark Turner's work in poetics and Gilles Fauconnier andTurner's later refinement of that approach. Hogan concludes thechapter by offering his own theory of "radical" artisticcreativity, the creativity we normally associate with genius, contending that it has a "deep structural relation to childhood" (76).Great artists have been those that either have extended basic principlesof competence in their art, or that have recuperated "childhoodtechniques that were lost in cultural systematization sys¡¤tem¡¤a¡¤tize?tr.v. sys¡¤tem¡¤a¡¤tized, sys¡¤tem¡¤a¡¤tiz¡¤ing, sys¡¤tem¡¤a¡¤tiz¡¤esTo formulate into or reduce to a system: "The aim of science is surely to amass and systematize knowledge"," thendeveloped these techniques in relation to a sense of audience (78). Heapplies this theory to an examination of Picasso's "LesDemoiselles d'Avignon Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avignon in English) is a celebrated painting by Pablo Picasso that depicts five prostitutes in a brothel, in the Avignon Street of Barcelona. Picasso painted it in France, and completed it in the summer of 1907. ," perhaps the single most analyzed pieceof visual art in cognitive science. Chapters four and five tackle issues relating to text. "W herethe Metaphors Are" discusses contemporary theories of metaphor,emphasizing the "feature transfer" theory that sees metaphoras a particularly local phenomenon, and Lakoff and (first name)Johnson's theory of conceptual metaphor, which highlights metaphoras a pervasive human thought process. As in other chapters, Hoganattempts to reconcile these theoretically disparate approaches inapplication, showing how cognitive metaphorical schemas and featuretransfer undergird a reading of Percy Shelley's "Triumph ofLife." The chapter concludes with a brief, positive summary ofFauconnier and Turner's theory of conceptual integration, orblending. Hogan's interpretive framework is quite helpful here, ashe shows that elements of Fauconnier and Turner's theory arepredicted by certain characteristics of cognitive architecture likeworking memory. The fifth chapter, "Narrative, or Getting the StoryStraight," takes up the field of cognitive narratology Narratology is the theory and study of narrative and narrative structure and the way they affect our perception.[1] In principle, the word can refer to any systematic study of narrative, though in practice the use of the term is rather more restricted (see below). , especiallyas it has been applied to film, an interesting choice for a chapter thatclaims to concentrate on "text." But this understanding of thefilm medium as "text" reflects a general transition withinmany departments of language and literature. His choice also emphasizesthe benefits of utilizing a theoretical approach that is suited tocross-modal media because engaging issues of integrating multiple sensemodalities forms part of the basic agenda of cognitive science. Hogandraws examples from the movie Titanic as he describes cognitiveapproaches to problems of narrative in film, including how viewers infercausality, identity, perspective, temporal and spatial relations, andcharacter. The reader is referred several times to Hogan's otherrecent book, T he Mind and Its Stories, which develops the issues ofnarrative in much greater depth. This chapter, however, provides plentyof analyses to keep the alert reader intrigued. Chapters six and seven address the difficult issues of ouremotional responses to art. "How Literature Makes Us Feel"describes the typical cognitive approach to emotion as appraisal theory,which identifies emotion as the response to one's evaluation of ascene's relative likelihood of positive or negative consequences inview of one's goals. Emotional response to literature entails notsimply a mental simulation of the narrative in which the readeridentifies with the protagonist, but involves a complex interactionbetween possible narrative trajectories and conclusions, thecharacters' apparent plans and goals, and the reader's ownbeliefs and ambitions. In addition to narrative response, literary artelicits emotional responses to various elements, such as words, withinthe overall composition. These responses ar e ascribed to patterns ofsuggestiveness which arise from partially-activated memories withemotional associations. Chapter seven looks more closely at the emotionsystem's neurobiology NeurobiologyStudy of the development and function of the nervous system, with emphasis on how nerve cells generate and control behavior. The major goal of neurobiology is to explain at the molecular level how nerve cells differentiate and develop their and at how specific elements, such asdepictions of panicked facial expressions or the incoming rush of waterin Titanic, combine to trigger emotional response. The final chapter, "The Evolutionary Turn: Blindness andInsight in the Explanation of Art and Mind," critiques recentattempts by evolutionary psychology to deal with art. Hogan believesthat examining psychologyin light of human evolution is valid, and should in principle lead togreater understanding of literature and the arts, but that "currentevolutionary psychological analyses are often d eeply flawed" (202).Among other problems, evolutionary psychologists who have discussed theadaptivity of literature and art do not have a nuanced understanding oftheir topic, which results in discussions that tend toward the reductive re¡¤duc¡¤tive?adj.1. Of or relating to reduction.2. Relating to, being an instance of, or exhibiting reductionism.3. Relating to or being an instance of reductivism. or facile. Evolutionary theorists need the help of humanists if a richaccount of the development of human society is to be attained. Like any academic book that attempts to cover with sufficient deptha wide range of topics, there are sections that specialists willdispute. Hogan tends to latch onto one or two key cognitive scientistsfor each topic of discussion that stands outside his areas of strongestexpertise, whereas the chapters on text, and especially on narrative,draw on a richly informative variety of resources. He explainsespecially well the more complex elements of cog nitive science, such asconnectionist networks or the operation of working memory, which mightotherwise intimidate science-phobic humanities students. On the whole, Irecommend the book as an excellent starting point for students of thehumanities who are interested in what discoveries in contemporary mindsciences might mean for developments in humanities. Cognitivescientists, generally dedicated interdisciplinarians, might also find itinformative to know what of their work is being found stimulatingoutside of the empirical sciences. As academics, we tend to view theworld through the arrow slits of our own disciplinary towers. This book,however, reminds us of the benefits of a liberal arts approach, not onlyto undergraduate education undergraduate educationMedtalk In the US, a 4+ yr college or university education leading to a baccalaureate degree, the minimum education level required for medical school admission; undergraduate medical education refers to the 4 yrs of medical s chool. Cf CME. but also to knowledge creation in general. Claiborne Rice University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette,[1] is a coeducational public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana.