The Strange Is Good for the Brain

Since entertainment and enjoyment are such strong motivators for reading a good book or catching a movie, those creative works that offer warped representation of reality may not be everyone's cup of tea. Most of us want to be amused, after all, not unsettled or disturbed.

But a new psychology study indicates that a dose of David Lynch or Franz Kafka might be just the thing to beef up your brain. So lend an ear, and preferably one not of the "Blue Velvet" variety.

As reported by Science Daily, books and movies with a decidedly surrealistic bent appear to bolster cognitive functions that govern our capacities for learning and problem solving.

UC Santa Barbara and University of British Columbia psychologists teamed up in conducting a study of test subjects who were asked to complete pattern recognition and recall tests after having read a story. One group read the nonsensical "The Country Doctor" by Kafka, the other group read a revised and more reality-based adaptation of the same story.

A second portion of the study involved having the subjects ponder inconsistencies in their own lives to generate unsettled, alienated feelings prior to performing the pattern recognition tests.

Regardless of how the subjects found their way to a sense that reality had been shaken up, whether through Kafka or through musing on the strangeness in their own lives, the ability to learn and to problem solve was markedly enhanced.

Psychologist and study author Travis Proulx, in a UC Santa Barbara press release, walks us through how we may go from the strange to sage:

"You get the same pattern of effects whether you're reading Kafka or experiencing a breakdown in your sense of identity. People feel uncomfortable when their expected associations are violated, and that creates an unconscious desire to make sense of their surroundings. That feeling of discomfort may come from a surreal story, or from contemplating their own contradictory behaviors, but either way, people want to get rid of it. So they're motivated to learn new patterns."

Photo courtesy of anonymous, via Wikimedia Commons