Read For Life

Category: Research

  • Stories build Functional Connectivity!

    Stories build Functional Connectivity!

    What is Functional Connectivity and why is it important?

    The human brain’s relationship with stories is as long as humans’ relationship with fire. Sunlit conversations addressed practicalities or gossip, but fireside tales evoked the imagination, preserved history, settled disputes and established social customs. Stories can be described as narratives about human (or human like) agents, their relationships and their fortunes; they are “created for the purpose of engaging readers”. Le Guin describes stories as carrier bags for memories (1997), and indigenous Australians created multidimensional stories called songlines that encompassed knowledge, history and social mores that have endured for tens of thousands of years.

    Narrative comprehension takes place in the Default Mode Network (DMN), an interconnected network of brain regions active when our brain is at rest. DMN is most active during REM sleep, mind wandering and reading. However during this time it also monitors and interprets sensory information from external and internal environments including pain.

    Neuroscience has linked the DMN with recollection and prediction, thoughts about others, creativity, imagination and impulse, navigation and spatial cognition, emotional responses, and aesthetic experiences.

    But stories are much more than entertaining storage devices. Neuroscience is now finding that reading stories increases functional connectivity (FC) between the DMN, the Salience network (SN) and the Central Executive Network (CEN). FC describes the likelihood that these different regions of the brain will become active at the same time. The DMN is responsible for random, creative, diverse and often disconnected thoughts, as well as interpreting external and internal stimuli; the SN determines which thoughts and stimuli are likely to be relevant and meaningful and therefore productive and useful; while the CEN, maintains working memory, and is responsible for controlling attention, logical judgment, and decision-making.

    Not only are high levels of FC is linked to creativity, decision making, divergent thinking, concept development and academic performance and even healthy aging, but increased FC is also linked with higher levels of resilience and wellbeing in young people.

    Neuroscience is providing empirical evidence from around the globe linking stories to Functional connectivity. Functional connectivity underpins self-actualisation, wellbeing, healthy aging and social adaptation. Yet many countries are diverting funds from qualified school library staff and story based resources. How can educators let this continue?

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  • Narratives in Neuroscience (Pt2) Highlights from the Research

    Narratives in Neuroscience (Pt2) Highlights from the Research

    Methodology

    Findings
    The Concept Building Brain
    The Storytelling Brain
    The Social Brain

    Discussion
    The Evolutionary Triptych

    Methodology

    Integrative Literature Review & Reflexive Thematic Analysis

    A literature review (LR) is conducted to provide a snapshot of the research on a particular topic at a point in time. An integrative literature review (ILR) differs in two ways; firstly, the ILR allows material for analysis to be selected from a broader base including books and interviews; and secondly, the author’s role in presenting a novel interpretation of the material is deemed to be the purpose of ILR. The Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) also emphasises the author’s interpretive process, initially while identifying and selecting themes emerging from the examination of the literature, and later while performing the analysis of the literature using these themes as a focus.

    Forty peer-reviewed studies were selected for this IRL. These studies use naturalistic stimuli, such as narratives, to produce patterns of activity within the Default Mode Network (DMN) which are examined using fMRI analysis. FMRI identified DMN as the region of the brain most active when the brain was in a resting state in 2001. The selected studies were all published after studies using naturalistic stimuli were revealed as having the greatest ecological validity, or real world implications, in 2008; 73% of the selected studies have been published since 2015, with almost half of these published in the last four years. In 2023 examination into the effects produced in DMN by naturalistic stimuli appears to be confined to the realm of cognitive neuroscience.

    Three distinct, yet closely associated themes were chosen for the RTA. These themes, reflect the important functions of DMN, and support the proposal that DMN is central to the Concept Building Brain, facilitating the development of language; the Storytelling Brain enabling the efficient transmission of thoughts and emotions; and the Social Brain encompassing reflection, simulation and foresight. The selected studies expand on these themes and suggest they form an Evolutionary Triptych which formed the driver for human evolution. [GO BACK]

    Findings of the Reflexive Thematic Analysis

    The Concept Building Brain

    Both narrative comprehension and effective communication requires accurate transmission of information, thoughts and experiences between individuals. Although this will depend on a shared understanding, knowledge and interpretation of the language and modality of a discourse, effective transmission of information will also depend on a shared meaning, or mental model, of the concepts and relationships within that discourse. This mental model is referred to as a “situational model”. FMRI reveals how the human DMN endeavours to maintain coherence in this situational model which is built from a multifaceted, multilayered, interrelated catalogue of concepts, which is itself being continually updated with incoming, and often conflicting, information—such as during the unfolding of a narrative. Naturalistic stimuli in the form of silent movies demonstrate not only that retrieval, updating and integration of information in memory occurs in DMN, but that DMN acts as a temporary location for incomplete information, synthesising new intrinsic and extrinsic information, and updating the situational model with this new information as it became available. Significantly, the process of creating and updating situational models—which includes creating relationships, generalising, updating and even nesting concepts—occurs within DMN in ways that are independent of both language and mode of delivery.

    One recent study which found that relationships between concepts can be both widely distributed across DMN yet also located in overlapping areas, and nested but simultaneously generalised, proposed that concepts are encoded together with the relationships between concepts, and that DMN is central to the semantic processing of these concepts. Authors of this study also reported that activity in the dorsal attention network (DAN)—activated during focused attention—increased and DMN activity decreased as concepts became more concrete;  and that left hemisphere activity was more likely to be associated with concrete concepts while the right hemisphere was associated with more abstract concepts.

    Naturalistic stimuli includes narratives presented as printed matter, audio files, film, silent movies, and animation, but can also include photos used to prompt personal narratives, imagination or memory. Studies using naturalistic stimuli have demonstrated not only that DMN processes concepts in ways that are independent of language, but also that narrative processing activates regions of DMN associated with Theory of Mind (ToM), and that neither language nor mode of presentation impact on how DMN processes concepts and relationship between concepts. This final point suggests that DMN capability to store concepts, relationships, and relationships between concepts—a capability necessary to facilitate communication— possibly predates the development of language.

    FMRI can monitor how complex concepts are processed both within DMN and over time. Although DMN activity is unrelated to language during comprehension, language is used to construct, integrate, relate and augment meaningful concepts first as words, then sentences, and then paragraphs during a “temporal receptive window” in which information is stored before being processed. This time lag—between processing and integrating complex ideas from the language processing areas, through the DAN and finally within the DMN—can be up to six seconds. During comprehension the sensory and language processing areas are deactivated as DMN is prioritised, and are reactivated when DMN resets at “event boundaries” (points of conceptual or perceptual change) in a narrative.

    These studies from the field of neuroscience indicate the fundamental role of DMN in Concept Building, and thus narrative comprehension, as information from external stimuli is combined with existing memories and beliefs to create, refine, augment and update concepts and relationships between concepts, within DMN’s situational model, in ways that are independent of language. They show that narrative comprehension is a hierarchical process, with words and sentences buffered within DMN before being synthesised, nested or generalised into more complex concepts. Finally, they show that event boundaries in a narrative are associated with consolidation of concepts as the concept building DMN is deactivated and reset in preparation for generating or updating the next situational model. [GO BACK]

    The Storytelling Brain

    InterSubject Correlation (ISC) is a phenomenon, identified using fMRI analysis, in which brain responses to external stimuli are shown to replicate across individuals. ISC is the strongest evidence from neuroscience that emotional content in stories can be transferred from the storyteller’s brain to the brains of their audiences. Furthermore, indications that ISC corresponds to specific points in a coherent narrative suggests that regions of the human brain, such as DMN, are designed to respond to elements characteristic of stories. FMRI and ISC also identify patterns of activity linked with naturalistic stimuli indicating that DMN interacts with other regions of the brain, referred to as functional connectivity (FC). Furthermore, reading fiction has been shown to increase FC, which in turn has been linked to increased creativity and also increased resilience.

    ISC patterns of activity in regions of DMN related to Theory of Mind (TOM) also confirm that prior beliefs and cultural influences affect responses to moral issues, interpretation of events, the lenience or severity of punishment, the subjective rating of comedy, and other emotional responses to naturalistic stimuli. Thus ISC and fMRI analysis confirms that narratives invoke a response directly related to personal perspective—and therefore a response from DMN—providing a neurological explanation of why each person’s interpretation of a narrative is unique.

    FMRI analysis using naturalistic stimuli shows increased ISC within groups of participants with similar psychological outlooks and personality types, and with proximity in social media friendship circles. Not only does ISC confirm that naturalistic stimuli are processed within the DMN in ways that are unaffected by mode of delivery, but ISC also identifies a “strong social structure for DMN” independent of language.

    ISC and naturalistic stimuli have demonstrated differences in DMN activity associated with problem solving styles, specifically holistic versus analytical thinkers. ISC showed that DMN activity in holistic thinkers was more strongly associated with regions related to moral processing and self-reflection, while ISC among analytical thinkers occurred more often in DMN regions associated with object and motion processing, and intentional and emotional mentalising. As thinking styles can be culturally related, these results confirm with empirical evidence that culturally diverse teams, study groups and friendship circles can benefit from cultural differences in problem solving styles.

    ISC demonstrates how narratives improve consensus building and team coherence, also indicating that greater ISC, and thus more effective consensus within groups, occurred in groups having freer and more balanced distribution of members’ contributions to discussion. Naturalistic stimuli and ISC suggest that leaders are more supported by team members and teams are more creative and successful, when team leaders are allowed to emerge or be appointed by team members during a task. These studies also suggest, firstly, that narratives can be used to promote consensus, encourage effective discussion of ideas and reveal the best team leaders for creative problem solving; and secondly, that the process of appointing team leaders might be determined by the goals of the team—be they creative problem solving, consensus or productivity.

    Studies investigating the role of the storyteller using fMRI and ISC have produced findings which suggest the role of the storyteller is significant for enhancing comprehension in their audiences; comprehension, indicated by greater ISC, is related to active engagement, prediction and thus successful communication. In a series of studies, ISC was found to be greater between storyteller and audience when the storyteller was retelling a story recalled from memory, or describing an event they were watching unfold, rather than reading a narrative. Greater ISC could indicate that the storyteller has tailored the story to their audience—evaluating the relevance of events and adjusting the complexity of details to assist comprehension. Once again, ISC occurred in regions of DMN which corresponded with the story’s social aspects and values. These studies found DMN also encoded information in regions related to the mirror neuron system (MNS), such as emotion, which is reactivated and transmitted during recall.

    Naturalistic stimuli in studies focusing on ISC between individuals provides empirical evidence suggesting that DMN selectively encodes into memory the narrative elements, including emotional responses, which are likely to be most relevant or essential for successful transmission of meaning to others, either immediately or as part of a more complex story. ISC also provides empirical evidence demonstrating that narratives are processed within DMN in ways that generate social coherence, consensus, shared goals, and even identify the most unifying and effective leaders. In these studies neuroscience has provided empirical evidence suggesting that information shared as narratives promotes ISC which enhances effective communication and widespread understanding and thus supports the Storyteller role of the human DMN. [GO BACK]

    The Social Brain

    In 2001 DMN was identified as a network of brain regions most active during Mental Time Travel (MTT). MTT refers to the spontaneous and self-referential thoughts that occur when the brain is not focused on external activities. During MTT the DMN is unresponsive to external sensory input such as audio or visual stimuli. MTT emerges in early childhood, possibly in children as young as three years of age and it is estimated that an adult can spend more than 60% of their waking life thinking about the past or imagining the future.

    It is the personal and social context of MTT which indicates the role of DMN as the Social Brain. Memories, plans, simulations and perspectives are self-referencing, therefore the DMN which is associated with introspection, self-projection, self-location and Theory of Mind (ToM) is strongly implicated in MTT. The temporal landscape of MTT varies; episodic memory engages MTT in revisiting the past while episodic foresight in the form of simulation, prediction and planning, takes place in an imagined future.

    The purpose of MTT also varies and DMN interacts with other regions of the brain accordingly. Goal directed MTT, such as planning, problem solving or imagining future scenarios, are “supervised” by the executive and salience networks which evaluate thoughts for relevance and feasibility. Spontaneous thought chains are characteristic of “unsupervised” MTT”. Thoughts associated with weighing alternatives, or making moral judgments are considered to be “contextual” MTT while “non‑contextual” MTT occurs during REM. Non-contextual thoughts occurring in certain mental illnesses such as delusion and schizophrenia appear to be associated with poor FC between DMN and the executive and salience networks. Divergent thinking and creative problem solving, while associated with MTT, are related to high FC between DMN and other regions of the brain during MTT: however, the Aha! Moment (insight) is most likely to be associated with periods of MTT dominated by DMN exhibiting unique behaviours.

    Skilled authors, aware that MTT is associated with engagement, transformation and immersion in a narrative, use literary techniques such as time and perspective shifts, conflicting or missing information, and fallible narrators to generate reflection, confusion and prediction errors, and invoke MTT in readers. Narratives invoke MTT which is externally guided as readers, prompted by the storyteller, imagine other worlds, step into the lives of other beings, and engage in self-reflection in ways that promote enduring personality change, and yet uniquely personal. MTT also informs the interpretation and understanding of essential literary elements such as metaphor and simile; it gives authenticity to simulations and predictions of events in fictional worlds; it facilitates empathy; and it engages with the MNS and the dopaminergic regions which register feelings of reward and punishment alongside opportunities to learn from the mistakes of others. MTT is considered to be an essential part of the reading experience.

    MTT is responsible for increased deviation from, and a hindrance to the successful completion of, many tasks. However, many consider MTT, characterized by spontaneous and stimulus independent thought, as an activity unique to humans, important for maintaining the DMN in operational but “autopilot” mode during periods of boredom—a baseline level of arousal which facilitates optimal performance on mundane tasks. A study which investigated both these possibilities, using fMRI analysis and naturalistic stimuli, identified an inverse relationship between MTT (DMN activation) and focused attention (DAN activation) along a gradient (rather than a dichotomy). High DMN activity was found to produce faster and more accurate results at some stages of the test, while at other stages produced slower and more error-prone results. Although DMN activity associated with MTT generally produced poorer results, DMN activity was often linked to faster reaction times, better target detection, and practiced effortless performance associated with “flow” or “being in-the-zone”. A later study indicated that DMN/DAN activity was context dependant, determined by the saliency and predictability of incoming information; in predictable situations the DMN switched to autopilot mode and acted as a sentinel which contributed to rapid decisions based on predictions, best-guesses and learned information— important socio-emotional skills.

    Studies which demonstrate that MTT can be associated with eye-blinking during a reading task provide insights into comprehension; as DMN is engaged for internal processing such as problem solving or comprehension, an eye blink coincides with the deactivation of the visual processing regions of the brain; the subsequent reengaging of these visual or audio sensors coincides with another blink. Naturalistic stimuli and fMRI reveals that MTT can play a significant role in conceptual learning, and blink patterns might indicate when this is occurring.  

    In 1986 Joseph Bruner described how readers of fiction inhabit landscapes of consciousness when engaging with characters, and landscapes of action when engaging with objects, scenery and actions. FMRI analysis of DMN patterns have shown that engagement with characters (ToM) and engagement with actions and scenery correspond to two distinct regions of the DMN during MTT. While participants might show a preference for one form of engagement over the other, researchers noted firstly that this preference was not mutually exclusive but rather was an inverse relationship along a gradient; and secondly that participants could shift between the perspectives of consciousness and action when prompted by guided questions. A more recent study, examining MTT as a function of engagement with characters using ISC, found that engagement with characters invoked greater ISC between participants than engagement based on action; that patterns of activation in DMN were related to the participants’ positive or negative engagement with the narrative’s characters; and that positive engagement with characters activated the dopaminergic network—the regions of the brain associated with reward and pleasure, error-prediction, surprise, risk assessment and creativity. This finding suggests that readers experience vicarious rewards and positive emotions alongside those of their preferred characters. In short, these studies suggest that targeted questions can encourage readers to engage with characters, and also that during positive engagement with characters the brains of readers are registering emotions related to reward and pleasure.

    During MTT images relating to the future appear more vividly than images recollecting past events, suggesting that the main purpose of MTT is foresight and prediction. Additionally, near future events are more likely to be linked to areas of DMN associated with concrete concepts, while goals that are further into the future are associated with areas of DMN that represent abstract concepts. When asked to imagine future events, DMN activity indicated that MTT combines memories into future projections, and also that imagining potential future social interactions includes emotional and adaptive responses, once again suggesting that simulation, prediction and projection might be the chief function and purpose of the human tendency to engage in MTT. And while the definition of narratives can be applied to non-fictional accounts as well as fiction, participants are more likely to engage with fictional characters, consider their motives and emotions, and speculate about possible outcomes, whereas for passages labelled as non-fiction participants’ responses indicated that the outcome was seen as having already been determined since the narrative was understood to be describing an event that belonged in the past. Thus MTT, which facilitates comprehension, communication, creativity, social awareness and vicarious experiences, appears to be inclined towards foresight in preparation for the future.

    FMRI shows that the processes of reading which involve simulation—including evaluating the behaviours and motivations of fictional characters, scene building and imagining future scenarios—recruit the regions within the DMN which correspond to vividness, social content and abstract concepts; that MTT involving simulations related to engagement with the social content within a fictional narrative enhances readers’ socio-emotional skills; and that greater reading frequency leads to greater FC which is linked to increased creativity, resilience and a broader moral perspective.

    Thus, DMN role as the Social Brain can be demonstrated firstly by studies highlighting the self-referencing aspect of MTT which revisits and examines memories, emotions, goals, beliefs and relationships in a self-reflective process; secondly, by studies which indicate that the primary role of MTT is to recombine these past events into future projections, where memories provide a realistic basis for simulation, prediction, adaption and creativity, informing foresight and facilitating learning; and finally, by maintain an autopilot mode for  DMN which facilitates rapid assessment of and response to both real and social environments. [GO BACK]

    The Evolutionary Triptych

    Discussion on the Reflexive Thematic Analysis

    Investigating the actions of naturalistic stimuli on the human brain using the tools of cognitive neuroscience provides empirical evidence that the Concept Building Brain creates, updates and stores multifaceted concepts which include spatial, temporal and emotional content, including reward and pleasure, in processes which are independent of language. Moreover, while every individual brings a unique and personal set of past experiences and beliefs to the interpretation of a narrative, ISC indicates that specific attributes of those experiences and beliefs, such as emotion, are associated with particular areas of DMN, suggesting DMN also plays a fundamental role as the Storytelling Brain.

    Studies examining ISC also indicate that narratives align participants who share common experiences and beliefs, but also provide vicarious learning opportunities to expand those experiences and beliefs, thus encouraging cultural diversity; and narratives can unite communities and reinforce social values by framing fictional events within established social and cultural mores. In addition, these studies highlight the importance of MTT in narrative comprehension, and the fundamental relationship between narratives and self-reflection, personality, personal goals and values, and the development of ToM. Neuroscience, therefore, provides empirical evidence of relationships between narratives and both self-referencing and social foundations of MTT, which suggests DMN acts as the Social Brain.  

    Thus, this RTA demonstrates the apparent tendency for DMN to make meaning, ensure social cohesion and nourish foresight, and suggests that the human DMN developed as an Evolutionary Triptych, comprising the Concept Building Brain, the Storytelling Brain and the Social Brain.

    This ILR indicates the impact of stories on DMN–the regions of the brain associated with personality and behaviour– and invites further study into the role of stories in supporting educational outcomes and socio-emotional development in children. But this sample of studies which investigate DMN under the influence of narratives also provide empirical evidence of interactions between DMN and the dopaminergic system, the salience network, the executive control network and the dorsal attention network during narrative comprehension; interactions which could impact all aspects of personality and personal potential, including creativity, social interactions, planning, insight and self-perception, to name just a few. Therefore, the evidence showing how narratives guide positive and constructive MTT suggests that narratives written for young adults have the potential to promote adaptive behaviours, especially during adolescence when social and emotional factors are key motivators for learning.

    It has been suggested that social selection, reinforced at least in part by narratives, has shaped human evolution, more so in humans than in any other species, and possibly more so than the forces of natural selection proposed by Darwin. It is not implausible then to suggest that the rapid pace of human evolution and the advancements in human intellect would not have occurred without stories.
    [GO BACK]

    Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

  • Narratives in Neuroscience (P3) Implications for Education

    Narratives in Neuroscience (P3) Implications for Education

    Since humans harnessed fire to
    extend their day beyond sundown,
    Stories have been shared –
    to explain the world,
    to calm our fears,
    to preserve ancient wisdom
    & to prepare us for the future.

    Adolescence: A Window of Opportunity

    Adolescence spans the ages from 10 to 19 and is a period of physical, cognitive and psychosocial growth marking the transition from childhood to adulthood. During adolescence peer relationships and large social groups replace adult guidance, influencing self-evaluation as teens seek their personal identity. Social skills including Theory of Mind (ToM) – imagining the world from another’s perspective – emerge in early childhood and continue to develop during adolescence alongside enhanced sensitivity to social signals, motivating behavioural choices; this is a time when teens, viewing themselves from others’ perspectives, choose to abandon performing arts and sports activities. The behavioural and emotional patterns associated with establishing personal identity can result in maladaptive responses and negative spirals during adolescence that can have lifelong effects.

    The incidence of mental illness emerging during adolescence appears to be increasing in Australia and abroad. In Australia, 25% of mental illness originates during adolescence with greater numbers of teens reporting concerns about the environment, problems at school or stress, anxiety, depression and self-esteem compared to earlier surveys; in UK 16 year olds as a group record the lowest self-reported scores amongst children on life satisfaction, self-belief, and coping skills; and in USA 76% of teens regard anxiety and depression as major concern for themselves or their friends. Mental illness during adolescence can cause significant and ongoing disruption to young people’s educational outcomes. However, adolescents must view interventions as being meaningful if they are to be effective in assisting them to improve, maintain and take responsibility for their personal wellbeing.

    Adolescence is considered to be a “Window of Opportunity” both for brain development, and for personal and social development. Reframing adolescence in this way suggests this period of brain plasticity and sensitivity development is also an opportunity to facilitate positive and healthy behavioural and socio-emotional changes. Adolescents are motivated to learn by material that is relevant to learning about themselves and their role in society, and learning how to navigate social relationships. Stories which engage adolescents can provide a variety of social experiences; firstly as they engage with characters within the story, secondly as they discuss elements of the story with other readers, and finally as they develop their capacity to identify and name themselves in the context of the world.

    Self-actualisation &
    Developmental Bibliotherapy

    Self-actualisation – the realisation of ones’ full potential, harmonising one’s actual-self with one’s ideal-self and one’s ought-self – is at the peak of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and is considered to be one of the most important of society’s goals, encompassing feelings of gratification, safety, belonging, and self-respect. Wellbeing, learning, and creativity are important contributors to self-actualisation, but similarly, self-actualisation is important for wellbeing, learning, and creativity. An education that encourages self-respect, self-efficacy, courage, and resilience is one which also supports the development of self-actualization in children.

    Developmental Bibliotherapy was described by Rhea Rubin in 1979 as encompassing voluntary programs for children in classroom settings, usually designed and conducted by teachers and librarians, using imaginary and didactic literature in discussions which encourage reflection and insight with the aim of promoting self-actualisation and healthy development. Developmental Bibliotherapy using Young Adult (YA) fiction can help young people develop a capacity to better manage their own wellbeing by encouraging self-reflection, strengthening core confidence, promoting a growth mindset, and developing feelings of compassion, empathy, tolerance and gratitude. YA fiction which takes the reader on journeys alongside authentic, relatable, and fallible heroes, provides the lesson that even heroes make mistakes. Fiction can provide readers with opportunities to explore alternative attitudes and behaviours – alongside protagonists – in preparation for the problems that they may encounter at some stage of their lives. Developmental Bibliotherapy, which harnesses the adaptive and beneficial effects of storytelling, empowers adolescents to maintain their own wellbeing and to further self-actualisation.

    Students need School Libraries

    Research indicates that the presence of a caring adult who is available for authentic and meaningful conversation can make a significant difference in adolescent achievement; for some this will be a school librarian. Teacher Librarians (TLs) – so named in Australian schools to reflect their dual Teacher and Librarian qualifications – have a unique role within school communities in supporting student wellbeing. Australian TLs are respected, valued and seen as supportive by their students. The school library space is regarded by students as a welcoming and accessible space in which they have a degree of autonomy over their activities, free of academic and time pressures; a place they might visit for relaxation, for learning and exploring, or to have a chat. School libraries are recognised and valued as safe spaces as there is generally a clear code of conduct which is modelled and enforced because they are spaces where a staff member is always present. TL led reading programs are usually aimed at promoting reading for pleasure, and yet can be simultaneously guided by the themes in the curriculum and tailored to individual needs. However, while many adolescents value reading fiction as a pleasurable activity, in educational settings reading for pleasure is not often recognised as a valuable pursuit.

    Therefore, while Developmental Bibliotherapy can be conducted in classrooms with generalist teachers, the participation of the TL is the key to the success of these programs in 21st century Australian schools because students perceive TLs as being more likely to know students’ reading abilities; more aware of group and individual interests; more able to generate student centred discussion about books; more knowledgeable about books written for young adults; and more likely to model reading as a pleasurable activity and to express their enjoyment in reading compared to teachers of English who students perceive as being focused on curriculum and student achievement. TLs are valued by Australian students not only as the overseer of the school library as a place of sanctuary and a personal guide toward reading choices, but also for their pastoral role in enhancing student wellbeing.

    Yet Australian school libraries are being defunded, many school librarians do not have teacher qualifications, and secondary school reading programs are often undervalued, do not have timetabled allocations, or are non-existent. Research advocating for the benefits of school library programs delivered by qualified Teacher Librarians appears to be confined to the social sciences in research which is based on subjective, intuitive, anecdotal and qualitative outcomes.

    In contrast, the Integrated Literature Review (ILR) provides evidence for the outcomes stated below, derived from analysis and synthesis of quantitative studies from the field of Cognitive Neuroscience. These outcomes provide empirical evidence in support of myriad existing qualitative studies and indicate the potential for Developmental Bibliotherapy programs designed and delivered by TLs to enhance learning environments and thus improve student outcomes.

    Implications for Education

    In summary, findings from the ILR taken together strongly suggest that Developmental Bibliotherapy programs led by TLs and which encourage reading for pleasure have the potential to:

    • build hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism and therefore core confidence, flexible intelligence and a growth mindset;
    • broaden the range of emotional experiences by facilitating vicarious learning by the actions of mirror neurons to promote mutual understanding;
    • reveal diverse perspectives and thus promote empathy, compassion, tolerance, and ToM;
    • increase classroom cohesion and communication and so creating safer learning environments leading to better educational outcomes;
    • demonstrate how diversity can produce different leadership and problem solving styles that might enhance productivity, creativity, divergent thinking and curiosity;
    • introduce language to enable self-expression, and soften barriers to communication;
    • validate emotions and reduce feelings of isolation, remove stigmas and stereotypes, and introduce language and concepts associated with mental illness to increase opportunities for early intervention;
    • promote effective communication, discussion and consensus building;
    • encourage reading for pleasure.

    Conclusion

    The importance that Australian students place on Teacher Librarians and school library spaces, and the potential for secondary school library programs to enhance wellbeing and educational outcomes are supported by abundant qualitative, anecdotal and intuitive evidence. However, books, libraries and qualified Teacher Librarians are disappearing from schools in Australia and around the world, while the incidence of mental illness in adolescents and young adults is increasing. Meanwhile, although studies using narratives as naturalistic stimuli in neuroscience are slowly but unremittingly providing a rich array of robust, objective, quantitative evidence of the mechanisms of DMN under the influence of stories, the origin and focus of these studies currently remain confined within the field of cognitive neuroscience. As noted by Jonathan Gottschall in 2013, “Researchers are not in the habit of pursuing scientific responses to literary questions”.

    By examining the actions of narratives in neuroscience through an educational lens, this ILR has combined findings from diverse examples of quantitative research into an ecologically valid empirical based support for the significance of narratives in nurturing self-actualisation and adaptive behaviours that benefit educational outcomes such as creativity, insight, reward, and pleasure; relationships that, hitherto, have been difficult to prove. It is hoped that by a bridging a knowledge gap between cognitive neuroscience and existing educational research, this ILR will introducing policy makers to the importance of reading for pleasure.

    This ILR has also demonstrated that viewing narratives from the perspective of DMN reveals empirical evidence to suggest a central role of narratives as catalyst for the evolution of the human DMN, characterised as an evolutionary triptych comprising the Concept Building Brain, the Storytelling Brain and the Social Brain, working together to enable Homo sapiens to overcome great challenges in the past to ensure not just the survival, but the success of the species, and just as critical to ensure the ongoing survival of the species into the future.

    Download References for Part 3

  • Narratives in Neuroscience (Pt1) An Integrative Literature Review

    Narratives in Neuroscience (Pt1) An Integrative Literature Review

    What fMRI analysis of the Default Mode Network
    can reveal about the impact of Stories on the Human Brain

    Introduction
    Stories and Personality
    Reading and Wellbeing
    Decoding the Default Mode Network
    An Evolutionary Triptych
    The Concept Building Brain
    The Storytelling Brain
    The Social Brain

    Introduction

    Narratives are increasingly being used in neuroscience as naturalistic stimuli for studies employing Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) analysis to examine the regions of the brain collectively known as the Default Mode Network (DMN). Using naturalistic stimuli ensures these studies have sound ecological validity, and fMRI analysis provides robust quantitative evidence validating the importance of narratives in healthy socioemotional development – a bond that has previously been largely demonstrated using qualitative studies. Thus results from these studies provide an untapped pool of empirical evidence demonstrating the relationship between narratives and social and emotional development.

    When taken together these studies suggest that the role of narratives in this relationship is not incidental; rather that narratives, language, and self- and social-awareness are interdependent and have developed as an evolutionary triptych, central to the evolution of the human DMN and its role in the unique ability of humans to accumulate and share knowledge. Reinterpreting studies of narratives in neuroscience through an educational lens reveals the potential for stories to enhance self-actualisation in children and adolescents, especially in reading programs such as those encompassing Developmental Bibliotherapy. This novel approach provides a framework by which existing fMRI analysis can provide a source of empirical evidence for a broader investigation into the importance of narratives in adolescent wellbeing and education. [GO BACK]

    Stories and Personality

    Storytellers and their audiences know how stories can influence and change our view of ourselves, others and the world. Stories, or narratives, reveal how interrelated events, unfolding over time affect the fortunes and relationships in the lives of the story’s characters. Narratives often contain moral or didactic messages embellished with richness in meaning and emotional content which encourages engagement and transportation into characters’ minds, and ensures these messages are understood and remembered. Readers are swayed, challenged and persuaded, and engage in simulation, prospection and prediction.

    Immersion in a story can induce a flow state, where time can be distorted, and where our brains reject external sensory stimuli in preference to the adventures within our imagination as it engages with the perspectives of other lives and the possibilities of other worlds. For some, this is the purpose of narratives – one enters into the contract of story, not only fully aware that narratives require emotional commitment, but eagerly anticipating the experience.

    Transportation into fictional lives and locations can be so complete that readers’ mirror neurons respond as if they were physically experiencing the world of the story. Emotions are experienced vicariously as the story’s protagonists exhibit character attributes of core confidence – such as hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism – and develop a growth mindset where new experiences are reframed as adventures, feedback from trusted allies is acknowledged and accepted, and failure is met with resilience and regarded as learning opportunity.

    When Campbell’s hero of the didactic Bildungsroman genre returns home transformed, empowered and enlightened, by association so does the reader. Along the hero’s journey readers vicariously experience reward and pleasure as they proudly, albeit vicariously, enjoy the hero’s successes and learn from the hero’s failures. Stories help to clarify, explain, normalise and validate emotions and experiences in ways that enable the transformative power of catharsis. Stories can also become instruments of comfort; as the story’s audience becomes aligned with the protagonists they feel less isolated and alone; and by enabling them to experience protagonists’ viewpoints, audience members become aware of others’ perspectives and also become more aware of their own.

    Fictional narratives can promote creativity and provide intellectual opportunities, stimulating the imagination with problems or mysteries, and augmenting knowledge. Audiences, given insights into protagonists’ motives and intentions, are able to view the same events from multiple perspectives, broadening their own emotional experiences. Escapism, using the “novel as a therapeutic experience”, and vicarious learning opportunities can be significant intellectual responses. Our intellectual flexibility is challenged by narratives which reveal conundrums, surprises and secrets, introduce fallible heroes, present uncomfortable truths or use humour to shock and surprise. Engagement with narratives can inspire, motivate, guide self-reflection, enhance wellbeing and nurture self-actualisation.

    During childhood fictional narratives can provide safe play spaces where key life skills can be shaped, tested and refined. These fictional play spaces can help to frame personal narratives, shape personalities, enhance confidence, and help to identify, clarify and define personal identity including values and beliefs. Stories become a pathway for young readers to form personal identities as they begin to identify and name themselves in the context of the world. [GO BACK]

    Reading and wellbeing

    Although fairy tales, folk tales, myths, anecdotes, novels, chronicles, biographies, legends, falsehoods, descriptions of news items and yarns can all be considered narratives, fiction provides the greatest opportunity for personal transformation and thus the greatest potential to enhance wellbeing. Comprehension and self-reflection is associated with engagement with a narrative’s content. Engagement with a narrative is a personal relationship which occurs regardless of either reading proficiency or literary content of the narrative, and is also associated with reading for pleasure. Engagement with a hero who is validated, enabled, enlightened and returns home triumphant in a future which is always positive has the potential to promote wellbeing by stimulating the reader’s dopaminergic system.

    Studies linking narratives with benefits to social and emotional development in the developmental stages of childhood and adolescence are not difficult to find. And yet schools are divesting resources from school libraries, and the numbers of qualified school librarians is dwindling. Prior to 21st century, research documenting the relationship between narratives and wellbeing has been limited to findings derived from studies which rely on qualitative, subjective, anecdotal and intuitive data. However, the relationship between stories and socio-emotional development and wellbeing is a relationship that has also been difficult to prove using scientific methods: each person’s interpretation of a narrative is individual, personal, and unique, influenced by memories, inferences, experiences, and reading styles that are infinitely varied. [GO BACK]

    Decoding the Default Mode Network

    The Default Mode Network (DMN) is an interconnected group of regions within the human brain. DMN was initially identified in 2001 as the regions of the brain most active when the brain is in a wakeful but resting state. DMN is now recognised as being the brain’s centre for personality, and self-referential mental activity including the processing of emotions and memories. It is active during spontaneous cognition, including mental time travel (MTT) and REM sleep. DMN begins to develop from early infancy and is shaped by both personal and vicarious experiences.

    Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a non-invasive method used to observe DMN responses to external stimuli. Studies using fMRI analysis are beginning to reveal the significant role of the human DMN as the brain’s primary network for personality, memory, imagination, forethought, intuition, moral judgment, mentalising and all other self-referential thoughts and behaviours. FMRI also reveals how DMN interacts – its functional connectivity (FC) – with other regions in the brain. FC between the DMN and the executive control and salience brain networks suggests that these other networks act to monitor and evaluate the feasibility and reasonableness of ideas, plans and memories during MTT. FMRI studies show that FC between DMN and other regions of the brain is strengthened by reading fiction, and also that increased FC in the brain is associated with increased resilience in the face of setbacks. The dopaminergic system, which registers emotions associated with reward, such as pleasure, also has FC with DMN. Delusion, depression, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, OCD, ASD and ADHD have been associated with changes in DMN and its FC with other regions of the brain, especially the executive control and salience networks.

    Speculation of the role of the DMN, especially during MTT and REM, varies from it being a sentinel keeping watch for dangers from the external environment, to a process which maintains the brain in an autopilot role during otherwise boring activities, to the essential feature of the human brain which distinguishes us from other animals. Egocentric sensory information such as pain is also monitored by DMN, even during REM sleep.

    DMN is central in the processing of memory, emotion, language, imagination, simulation, planning, prediction, navigation, and thinking from others’ perspectives (known as Theory of Mind (TOM) or mentalising). DMN is also closely associated with vicarious learning, curiosity, intuition, and creative insight – sometimes referred to as the AHA! Moment. Humour and literary elements such as metaphor and simile are also processed in DMN. This close alignment between the complex processes associated with language independent comprehension and the processing responsibilities associated with DMN suggested the use of naturalistic stimuli in empirical studies of social behaviour in humans.

    The use of narratives as stimuli for fMRI studies offers a number of advantages: narratives are engaging, and their use does not require training; narratives can be reproduced, selectively edited, and their presentation mode varied; and narratives can be independent of language. Naturalistic stimuli have demonstrated how the human DMN changes, and reconfigures when presented with unfolding, or conflicting story elements and a functional subdivision of the DMN has been identified – named the Chrono architecture – which updates the brain’s spatial and temporal information. Narratives in neuroscience have revealed how the DMN responses differ between character based and action based fiction, and between fiction and non-fiction. The use of narratives as naturalistic stimuli although nascent, is increasingly providing neuroscience with insights into how the human DMN processes real-life sensory experiences. [GO BACK]

    An Evolutionary Triptych

    It seems that the human DMN may have three interconnected roles: firstly, a concept building role, responsible for recognising, creating, recording, recalling and sharing concepts, and relationships between concepts, that facilitate communication via the development of language; secondly, a storyteller role to facilitate the transmission of information in a format that was easily comprehended and remembered, and which encouraged appropriate responses; and finally, a social awareness role which enabled early humans to consider another’s perspective, and set the foundations for social mores and customs. FMRI studies indicate that the human DMN possibly developed as an evolutionary triptych incorporating the Concept brain, the Story brain, and the Social brain in a mutually enriching and supporting scaffold for ongoing human development. [GO BACK]

    The Concept Building Brain

    DMN has the ability to build, maintain, augment and reject relationships and concepts giving rise to the notion of DMN as the Concept Building brain, Although independent of language, this ability to generate relationships and recognise patterns is fundamental for the development of language. These roles of DMN, particularly the relationship building role, also provides evidence of the mechanisms involved in learning, association, spontaneous thought, creativity, intuition and MTT. [GO BACK]

    The Storytelling Brain

    DMN has also been called the Storytelling Brain as fMRI analysis has revealed regions of DMN are activated during the high level processing of narratives; regions involved in memories, emotions, plot formation and scene building, navigation, and prospection have been identified using naturalistic stimuli including narratives. Furthermore, curiosity indicates that in the absence of stories the human DMN will try to find one in an attempt to make meaning. Narratives simulate real world situations by using just the essential elements necessary to efficiently transmit information, assist cognition and convey context; it has been suggested that the transfer of information between humans is the primarily role of stories. [GO BACK]

    The Social Brain

    DMN is the location of our personality and could be appropriately named the Social Brain. Narrative comprehension engages the neural mechanisms associated with personality, perspective taking and Theory of Mind (TOM), thereby supporting socio-emotional development and self-actualisation. FMRI has revealed how DMN engages memory and prior experiences during narrative comprehension, and how these memories and prior experiences can be projected into the future.

    InterSubject Correlation (ISC) – a measure of the extent to which DMN activity patterns revealed by fMRI analysis are found to be similar within a group of participants – provides neurological examples of information being transferred between a storyteller and their audience, and the context of a narrative itself increasing ISC between listeners during the telling and into the future. Studies of ISC in DMN responses to both humour and suspense highlight how memory and culture are linked to emotional responses. ISC can be observed while DMN is stimulated using naturalistic data in written, auditory and audio-visual narratives, as well as music, and aesthetic performances, providing evidence of the variety of activities that produce this unifying response, in ways that are independent of language.

    FMRI studies also demonstrate the actions of the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) which is responsible for a phenomenon whereby a set of neurons corresponding to the action of an individual is activated in an observer, unifying the execution of an action by one person with the perception of the action in another. The MNS enables people to experience and learn actions and emotions vicariously, including those associated with social situations. Narratives also promote positivity and vicarious pleasure in the dopaminergic system.

    DMN activity was initially thought to be associated purely with task-negative activity since DMN activity is anticorrelated with the task-positive dorsal attention network (DAN). However, using narratives in neuroscience can demonstrate that DMN is functionally connected to regions of the brain necessary for wellbeing such as the executive control and salience networks. [GO BACK]

    References for Narratives in Neuroscience Research Project

    Part 2 – The Integrative Literature Review – Reflexive Thematic Analysis

    Part 3 – Implications for Education

  • Literacy Links to Wellbeing

    Literacy Links to Wellbeing

    Reading Fiction can Influence Wellbeing Literacy.

    A team at Melbourne University is proposing a Capability Model for Wellbeing Literacy. This model attributes an agency, intention and freedom of choice (a capability) to enhance and maintain the wellbeing of ourselves, others and the wider world, made possible by way of multimodal forms of language. The team’s 2021 paper entitled “Wellbeing Literacy: A Capability Model for Wellbeing Science and Practice” (Oades et al. 2021) adds further weight to the assertion that reading enhances wellbeing.

    The Melbourne University team defines wellbeing literacy as the “capability to comprehend and compose wellbeing language, (across contexts) with the intention of using such language to maintain or improve the wellbeing of oneself, others or the world”.

    The article refers to language as a “resource that people use actively to construct their psychological and social realities”. Wellbeing literacy relies on being able to recognise and interpret the language of wellbeing. But as our capacity to use language expands, so does our capacity to recognise, interpret and articulate our wellbeing insights and experiences. Not only do we become agents in our own wellbeing, but we are able to make conscious choices that influence our own wellbeing and that of others, and we recognise that our state of wellbeing is a personal choice and we have the freedom to make those choices.

    According to the Capability Model, language provides people with the capability to convert wellbeing opportunities into wellbeing experiences and achievements. This article also recognises that with more language opportunities comes more choices, greater freedom of choice and a broader interpretation of concept of wellbeing. Language can also reframe experiences to enhance wellbeing – an aspect of the written word as well known to poets as it is to journalists.

    It is easy to see how reading supports this model: as protagonists use language to support their own wellbeing and demonstrate agency in their own choices we might start to recognise and realise our own values, agency and potential. Through the narrative we are able to find insights into our wellbeing experiences and achievements.

    In the Capability Model wellbeing literacy becomes a recognisable aspect of Developmental Bibliotherapy, both dynamic and very personal, and closely connected to agency and the “freedom to choose what wellbeing means to a person and [the] choice in how that is maximised via language and knowledge.”

    Ultimately, maintaining our wellbeing is a personal endeavour, related to our goals, values, relationships and past experiences. However, as language expands our capability of experiencing wellbeing, fiction provides language in context and offers a myriad of opportunities to learn the language of wellbeing and the freedom to discover, trial and explore our own unique versions of wellbeing.

    Bibliography
    Oades, Lindsay G., Aaron Jarden, Hanchao Hou, Corina Ozturk, Paige Williams, Gavin R. Slemp, and Lanxi Huang. 2021. “Wellbeing Literacy: A Capability Model for Wellbeing Science and Practice.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (2): 719. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020719.

  • Reading and the Default Mode Network

    Reading and the Default Mode Network

    We read books to find out who we are.”
    — Ursula Le Guin in The Language of the Night, 1979.

    Image by John Hain from Pixabay

    What is the Default Mode Network?

    The Default Mode Network (DMN) is that part of the brain most active during REM sleep, while daydreaming and while reading stories.

    The DMN is associated with task-unrelated thinking, sometimes called Spontaneous or Stimulus-Independent thought, and has been described as “The brain running in neutral” activated “precisely when we detach ourselves from what’s going on around us” (Noë, 2017).

    “Spontaneous thought allows individuals to construct and simulate alternative scenarios, mentally-organize their plans, and prepare for what may lie ahead … and facilitate the organization and structuring of daily events.” (Andrews-Hanna, 2011 )

    The Sentinel

    But, while the DMN can be thought of as the parts of the brain that are not engaged with processing sensory information or attending to external stimuli (one reason why the study of DMN is difficult), research also supports a “sentinel hypothesis” in which the DMN concurrently monitors the external environment for upcoming stimuli or other significant, unpredictable events; precisely the situation in which we respond to an unexpected event “without thinking” – far from being in a “world of our own” our DMN has been monitoring our external world and is already engaged sufficiently with our memories to react instantaneously.

    Eudaimonia, Wellbeing and Pleasure

    The findings that the DMN is activated when we are directing our attention inwards may be the reason that the DMN has been linked with the development of Eudaimonia, described by Aristotle as ‘doing and living well’. Vessel (2019) also linked the DMN to the perception of beauty related to aesthetics, including an inner feeling of pleasure associated with music, artworks, landscapes and architecture, perhaps because these activities are often linked with pleasant memories. It is not surprising then to learn that many of the key regions of the pleasure system are part of the Default Mode Network.

    Defining Ourselves

    The DMN is in a constant performance/feedback/revision loop as it continually stores, reviews and applies learned information, consolidating our recent experiences, and enabling us to make sense of the chaotic and disconnected events that we encounter daily.

    Our DMN is active whenever we are thinking about ourselves or others, when we are remembering the past or using our past experiences to plan for the future, when we are interacting in social contexts and finding our place in the world, and when we are using our self knowledge to make choices, explore our creativity and test our boundaries.

    DMN is Responsible for:

    All the processes that make us who we are as individuals and as members of the society we inhabit…

    FORMING Personal Narratives and Autobiographical Memories –

    Understanding and accepting our emotional responses, and assimilating facts and events about ourselves into our understanding and knowledge of our personal traits, and our strengths and weaknesses.

    DEVELOPING Theory of Mind –

    Understanding diversity in viewpoints and opinions, developing Empathy and Moral Reasoning, learning to interpret Social cues and examine Stereotypes, and then learning to modify our behaviour to suit different social situations 

    Managing Memories –

    Creating memories and then enabling us to recall and apply these memories, access intrinsic understanding, imagine possible futures, comprehend narratives, and respond without thinking in unexpected situations.  

    APPLYING Insight & Intuition –

    Responsible for the Aha moments, lateral thinking, creativity and confidence in problem solving, Spontaneous Thought and automatic responses that protect us in Sentinel mode, and

    DEVELOPING a Growth Mindset through Vicarious Learning –

    Building efficacy, hope, optimism, emotional resilience and curiosity, interpreting simulations & making predictions, finding pathways, overcoming obstacles, through the actions of others

    HELPING to Making Sense of the World –

    Assimilating and interpreting narratives, creating order from chaos, identifying patterns and logical thought processes, analysing and synthesising the day’s events.

    Stories and the Default Mode Network

    When we read, our DMN is helping us imagine journeys with heroes and villians, define our values and our goals, helping us visualize different perspectives and pathways, supporting our capacity to simulate hypothetical scenes, spaces and mental states; we must access our memories in order to understand the story we’re reading and visualise the scenes within the novel. Our DMN is active when we respond to the word ‘Dog’, associating that one word with the memories and emotions linked to a multitude of interactions with dogs, all invoked by the present instance of a dog within the pages of a novel.

    It is the correlation between Reading Fiction and the activation of the Default Mode Network, with its positive links to eudaimonic states and wellbeing, aesthetics, social responsibility, and the self awareness that necessitates the welfare of the self in future endeavours, that presents the most compelling case for Developmental Bibliotherapy in schools.

    References

    Andrews-Hanna, J. R. (2011). The Brain’s Default Network and Its Adaptive Role in Internal Mentation. The Neuroscientist, 18(3), 251–270. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073858411403316

    Noë, A. (2016, June 17). Why Do Our Minds Wander? Npr.Org; NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/06/17/481977405/why-do-our-minds-wander

    Stark, E. A., Vuust, P., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2018, January 1). Chapter 7 – Music, dance, and other art forms: New insights into the links between hedonia (pleasure) and eudaimonia (well-being) (J. F. Christensen & A. Gomila (eds.)). ScienceDirect; Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079612318300190

    Vessel, E. A., Isik, A. I., Belfi, A. M., Stahl, J. L., & Starr, G. G. (2019). The default-mode network represents aesthetic appeal that generalizes across visual domains. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(38), 19155–19164. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1902650116

    Wikipedia Contributors. (2019, May 15). Default mode network. Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Default_mode_network

  • Tell Me the Truth – Talking to Children About Climate Change

    Tell Me the Truth – Talking to Children About Climate Change

    Wallaby in a logged and burnt landscape

    At what age do we start questioning our parents’ honesty? Research tells us that, partly because it is in our best interests to do so, we happily accept the existence of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy until the age of eight.

    And what effect does it have on us when we realise that our parents are not being honest with us?

    As a parent then, how do we talk to our children honestly about climate change without causing distress? If we are not open and honest with our children we risk creating distrust, we risk alienating them and we risk fostering anxiety, just as we could foster anxiety by overwhelming them with information they may not be ready for.

    And how do we support their activities and actions – some of which might have risky and far reaching outcomes – if those actions serve to relieve their anxiety and distress?

    However we choose to talk about climate change with our children, eco-anxiety has been described by Dr Sarah Anne Edwards as an intelligent response to climate change that enables a better understanding and sensible choices and a movement from paralyzing emotions into empowering actions. In other words, a healthy, natural reaction to our growing consciousness of a real threat, one, she says, “we should not minimize, discount, distract or otherwise suggest palliatives to ease…” because “the more society and those around us discount the reality of the consequences at hand, the more anxious we become and the more maladaptive our responses”

    Eco-Anxiety – the Mental Distress caused by Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

    We are often surprised by how much our children are aware of our concerns despite our best efforts to hide them, whether pur concerns relate to a sickness in the family, relationship tensions or climate change.

    In the face of the ever present indications of Climate Change in the news, in school curriculums, in reading matter and in covert adult discussions, a study from RMIT found that young people feel anxious, overwhelmed, guilty, frustrated, grief struck and powerless. But hope is fostered when they engage with other people who share their feelings and concerns, and take action to address climate change.

    As for all mental health concerns, talking to all people experiencing eco-anxiety or solastasia about their concerns firstly demonstrates that someone cares to acknowledge that their feelings and concerns are real and valid. And it also provides them with the language they need to identify and articulate how they are feeling. Engaging in activities that direct their attention outwards and also foster empowerment and hope, are also good ways for people to find outlets for their anxiety.

    Resources for Parents and Teachers

    These sites will provide guides or starting points for conversations with children regarding disasters and climate change:

    The Australian Psychological Society’s page on Climate Change includes advice on

    • Talking with children about the environment
    • Coping with climate change distress
    • As well as the society’s Climate Change Empowerment Handbook.

    Or go straight to Raising Children to Thrive in a Climate Changed World (PDF).

    See The Climate Reality Project’s suggestions for
    Talking to Children About the Climate Crisis
    Or get eBook BEGINNING THE CLIMATE CONVERSATION: A FAMILY’S GUIDE

    The Australian Parents for Climate Action have a number of age appropriate ways
    parents can help children address climate change concerns.

    And the National Geographic’s Talking to Kids about Climate Change page site has ideas for activities, amazing photographs and good news stories

    Resources for Young Adults:

    Reachout’s Coping with Anxiety about Climate Change page has loads of useful tips as well as more general health and relationship advice

    And see Teen Vogue’s age on Eco-anxiety.

    Addressing Eco-anxiety and Solastasia

    Climate change has already robbed many young people around the globe of a future resembling one their parents enjoyed; Young people are aware that the changes needed to prevent this are happening too slowly.

    Having someone acknowledge, name and validate these feelings of anxiety or grief is the first step towards regaining control over them. Understanding that these feeling have a purpose is another way to gain control.

    Sharing experiences with others, becoming informed, actively confronting the threat, engaging with the natural world, and realising personal values can be meaningful ways of continuing the battle against anxiety and against the threat causing it.

    Eco-anxiety, the fear of an uncertain and possibly calamitous future, and Solastasia (a profound sadness caused by environmental change), are real and valid responses to the existential threat that is climate change and should not be ignored or underestimated – it may even be a motivating fear.

    Everyone knows that human beings are a type of animal. Everyone knows that animals are a part of nature, and so we are a part of nature, and we are also dependant on the rest of nature. We are the natural world. We can’t destabilise nature without destabilising ourselves. – Matt Haig

  • Cultivating Core Confidence

    Cultivating Core Confidence

    When children read about ordinary people achieving extraordinary successes, they come to realize that the brain is flexible and adaptable, and that intelligence, like confidence, can be also be developed – they adopt a “growth mindset”

    How can we immunize young people against the disruptive force of mental illness? Joseph Gold (2001)

    By ignoring the potential of books in the development of Core Confidence in young people we are depriving them of the opportunity to develop this most vital aspect of their being.

    Alexander Stajkovic’s theory of Core Confidence says that Confidence resides unseen in the core of an individual’s character, and is manifested in Hope, Self-efficacy, Resilience and Optimism. These distinct but interconnected elements can predict job satisfaction, job performance and, ultimately, satisfaction with life. Furthermore, Stajkovic believed that these elements can be cultivated in all of us.

    I believe they can be cultivated in young people using Developmental Bibliotherapy.

    Cultivating Core Confidence with Books

    Self-efficacy

    “The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”

    Peter Pan in J.M. Barrie’s book of the same name.

    Self-efficacy refers to the belief in one’s ability to produce a given level of attainment. It is disctinct from but related to self-esteem, motivation and resilience.

    Self-efficacy influences the goals that we choose for ourselves, the confidence in our ability to learn new tasks and especially, whether we believe that abilities can be learned and developed or are fixed.

    Unsurprisingly, mastery of a skill is the most powerful way to build self-efficacy. Through mastery we see that skills can be acquired and as our self-efficacy increases we are encouraged to attempt still more new skills. But influential people in our lives can also strengthen our self-efficacy – with meaningful feedback, encouragement and support we are motivated to greater efforts.

    The second most powerful way to cultivate self-efficacy is through Vicarious Learning – watching or reading about people, especially role models, succeeding by their sustained effort raises our beliefs in our own abilities, much the same way that an outstanding team member can raise the achievements of less talented players in a team.

    Whether we are reading horror and suspense, romance or an autobiography, mirror neurons respond to the emotions and triumphs of characters as if they were our own. And as our brains are flooded with the thoughts and experiences of characters within the pages of a book our brain is leaning vicariously – imagining conversations, testing alternatives and refining our beliefs.

    Hope

    “Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.”

    Laini Taylor in Daughter of Smoke & Bone

    Hope has the power to heal afflictions and helps us endure times of great suffering. Hope has a very positive impact on health, academic achievement, athletic accomplishment, emotional health, personal meaning and our ability to cope with adversity.

    Hope has a positive impact on health, academic achievement, athletic accomplishment, emotional health, personal meaning and our ability to cope with adversity. Hopeful thinking is both a trait and a positive motivational state. We think of Hope as being made up of Pathways towards achieving a goal and the determination to achieve a certain goal known as Agency).

    We cultivate Hope by visualising multiple pathways towards our goal, by maintaining our motivation towards achieving that goal and by believing in our power to achieve our goal.

    “No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.” 

    Dalai Lama XIV

    But to cultivate Hope we must first identify our dreams; and our dreams emerge once we recognize those things we value in ourselves, our relationships and our environment.

    Literature helps us to identify our values and decide what is important to us by guiding us through self-reflection. As we share the hopes and disappointments of fictional characters facing obstacles in their fictional quest, we learn to be flexible and adaptable, we visualize alternative strategies towards our own quests, we learn that setbacks and detours are obstacles to be overcome; and we begin to imagine our own paths and dreams.

    “The idea of a happy ending is a very powerful thing. Living in a world without hope would be very bleak indeed”. 

    Josh Dallas (Once Upon a Time)

    We accompany characters as they make mistakes and choices, forge relationships and face dangers and we learn to predict, to envisage alternative actions and to consider “what if” outcomes. As we follow, and sometimes identify with, the fictional character on their quest, we learn to forgive their mistakes and transgressions, and we develop empathy and compassion.

    Optimism

    “What day is it?” asked Pooh.
    “It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
    “My favorite day,” said Pooh.”

    A.A. Milne in Winnie the Pooh

    Optimism is the belief that we are responsible for our own happiness and that more good things will happen to us in the future. For optimism to be a positive force this belief must be realistic – appreciating the positive aspects of a situation without ignoring the negative – and our belief must allow for the possibility that bad things do happen to good people.

    Optimism can affect our personal growth, our sense of purpose in work, our relations with others, our pride in our accomplishments, and our general level of happiness and life satisfaction. Optimistic students are less susceptible to stress, loneliness and depression, and less likely to drop out. Optimists are also more likely to have healthy lifestyles.

    Literature helps to cultivate our optimism by helping us escape the limitations of our environment and negativity from our influencers. Literature stimulates our imagination and enables us to organise our own experiences while in the process of deciphering someone else’s. Literature helps us to make sense of the past and become less fearful of an uncertain and sometimes terrifying future.

    Resilience

    “It came to me that I hadn’t known that I was less than I could have been until then, when I saw there was so much more of the world for me to be myself within.”

    Griz in “A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World” by C. A. Fletcher

    Resilience is the ability to take responsibility for creating the future we want, to persevere through everyday adversities and tribulations, to adapt or overcome major setbacks, and to reach out to new experiences and challenges.

    Resilience transforms hardship into challenge, failure into success, helplessness into power, victims into survivors and allows survivors to thrive.

    Resilience comes when we believe that we have the power to control the events in our life and to change the things that need changing, and that belief is accurate. Resilience is not a trait that one either has or does not have; resilience is a state that involves behaviours, thoughts and actions, and it can be learned and developed.

    • Resilient individuals seek connections, they accept help and they try to help others.
    • Resilient individuals accept change as a path to growth.
    • Resilient individuals can recognise and articulate feelings, needs and viewpoints and are open to the opinions of others.
    • Resilient people stay curious about their world, and about the past and the future, and they are reflective and mindful of their own and others’ thoughts and emotions.
    • Resilient people maintain a positive self-image, a sense of perspective and derive meaning from failure.
    • Resilient people are see obstacles as ambitious but attainable tasks.
    • Resilient people enjoy learning new skills and use creative experiences to bolster their wellbeing.

    Fictional characters can inspire us to develop our own resilience by watching them develop through the choices and responses they make. We learn that resilience is something that we cultivate, not something we are born with, and that sometimes resilience requires immediate action, but most often it does not. We see that resilience involves a realistic evaluation of a situation, to consider for alternative solutions, to be less reactive to our emotions, and to respond better when adversity strikes.

     

    The Danger of Excess

    It is possible to have too much of these elements of Core Confidence:

    • Too much Self efficacy can make us over confident and we neglect our training, we believe we have nothing left to learn, or we reject new ideas and suggestions.
    • Too much Hope can anesthetise us, keeping us passive when we should be motivated into action.
    • Too much Optimism can shroud us in illusions and irrational beliefs, or cause us to waste energy on unattainable goals.
    • Too much Resilience can make us overly tolerant of adversity, or make us resigned and apathetic in the face of danger.

    Hope, Resilience, Self-efficacy and Optimism are states that amalgamate to form Core Confidence, so interdependent that when one is out of balance, the others will fail alongside it or fall behind and either way our Core Confidence is diminished. So it is far better to have too much Core Confidence than too little.

    Developmental Bibliotherapy and Core Confidence

    Joseph Gold (1998) describes the beneficial power of fiction thus:
    “Fiction extracts the reader from their immersion in personal confusion … using narrative to engage the reader emotionally while generating new and newly arranged information so that cognitive shift can take place. The results of this are improved problem solving skills, a greater sense of normality, a breakup of rigid and confusing cognitive frameworks, improved socialization and increased self-actualization.”

    Developmental Bibliotherapy has the advantages over other all programs in that it can be infinitely tailored to meet the needs of almost any student. It can be practiced anywhere at any time, alone or in a group, at any age.  

    And the resources necessary to implement Developmental Bibliotherapy are already abundant in most schools.

    By ignoring the potential of books in the development of Core Confidence in young people we are depriving them of the opportunity to develop this most vital aspect of their education.

    “I was seeing the world through the lens of the books I had read about it”

    Griz in “A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World” by C. A. Fletcher

    Further Reading & References

    ‌Get Printable Version Cultivating Core Confidence

  • An Ounce of Prevention

    An Ounce of Prevention

    If we could design a program for young adults with the aim of boosting good mental health, like a wellbeing vitamin, what would such a program look like?

    Which personal qualities enable some young people to ride the rollercoaster that is adolescence and emerge confident that they can forge their own path within the society they are set to inhabit?

    And how we can provide children and young adults with the education that enhances their own particular strengths?

    Attributes and Character Strengths for the 21st Century.

    Twenty first century teens face enormous educational, social and global pressures reflected by escalating numbers of young people with mental health issues.

    Alexander Stajkovic proposed that Core Confidence, made up of Self efficacy, Resilience, Optimism and Hope, form an inner resource which helps us avoid being crushed by the setbacks we face during our lives.

    Martin Seligman suggested that we are better placed to overcome challenging situations if we can eliminate Personalisation, Permanence and Pervasiveness from our set of personal beliefs. Seligman also revisited the term “Positive Psychology”, and identified 24 Signature Strengths, in five broad groups, that we can use or develop to achieve our potential for wellbeing, happiness and fulfilment (including seven key attributes – Self Control, Zest, Social Intelligence, Gratitude, Optimism, Curiosity and Grit, “a perseverance and passion for long-term goals” – can predict academic success).

    At Camp Kulin, Western Australia, life skills such leadership, respect, trust, self confidence, self respect, self esteem, emotional regulation, anger management and perseverance are shown to improve personal, behavioural and academic outcomes for their adolescent participants.

    And, John Marsden, Australian author and school principal, in saying that “by limiting children’s exposure to danger, to fear, we are limiting their ability to mature, develop resilience and independence”, reinforces recent findings that children need to experience failure and risk.

    How do we kindle these qualities in young people; how do we nurture them into self sustaining personal attributes?

    Research tells us that we can do this by simply encouraging children to read!

    What’s Special About Books?

    When a child first becomes an independent reader, they proudly, confidently and independently begin to explore new worlds. Inside the covers of books they meet new characters, confront questions and find answers, develop creativity and imagination; and they no longer rely on others for entertainment. They are separating from their parents while simultaneously taking steps towards becoming members of the grown-up world; able to communicate and share stories beyond their own limited experiences. 

    As children read they learn that they can experience things as individuals, they become confident communicators, they become creative problem solvers, and they start to understand, recognise and relate to emotions. Their brain is learning vicariously, and these new skills, characteristics and attributes accompany developments in cognitive skills (thinking, problem solving, reasoning, remembering and concentration).

    As they read they begin to develop a Theory of Mind – able to consider others’ perspectives and needs – and so they start to develop empathy and start caring for others. They learn about diversity as they read stories about how other people (or animals, or imaginary creatures like fairies, or inanimate objects like pencils) go about their lives, expressingr emotions and coping with different problems and situations.

    But they also learn that others experience similar feelings to themselves, such as nervousness, fearfulness or anger, and they begin to explore these feelings from a safe place within the pages of a book. They learn that sometimes bad things happen, sometimes good people fail and sometimes life isn’t fair, but that these times don’t last forever.

    Characters in these first stories can help children start to think about how they want to live their lives and their own place in the world, and they help readers to explore different opportunities and possibilities. Children are developing and reflecting on their own personal values, but they are also confronting fears, taking risks, accepting failure, forming friendships, breaking barriers, challenging stereotypes and exploring alternative worlds, safely within the worlds inside a book.

    Along the journey from childhood to adulthood, young adults must balance pressures from family, school, friends and often social and cultural expectations, with a personal need to explore their potential, develop and express their individual values and styles, and test their own boundaries as they reflect on what it means to live “the good life”. Many are terrified in the knowledge that their generation is facing an uncertain future with unforeseeable problems.  

    Young adult readers find role models among the authentic characters created by respected Young Adult authors, perhaps in addition to the adults in their lives or perhaps in the absence of trustworthy adults, to assist and guide them during their teen years.

    Bibliotherapy and the Default Mode Network.

    The Default Mode Network is a group of connected regions in the brain, which is most associated with task-unrelated thinking and has been described as “The brain running in neutral” activated “precisely when we detach ourselves from what’s going on around us” (Noë, 2017).

    The Default Mode Network is responsible for:

    • Autobiographical Memory – forming our personal memories and our understanding and reflection of ourselves, including our strengths and our emotions;
    • Social information – developing a Theory of Mind, empathy, moral reasoning, intuition, stereotyping, social skills;
    • Applying Memories – recalling the past, imagining the future, comprehending narratives;
    • Spontaneous Thought – contributing creativity in problem solving and AHA moments as well as enabling rapid automatic and instinctive reactions.

    The Default Mode Network is most active when daydreaming, during REM sleep and while reading. Disruption in Default Mode Network connectivity has been linked to mental health issues including depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s.

    The Default Mode Network is responsible for continually storing and applying learned information, enabling us to make sense of the chaotic and disconnected events that we encounter daily. It is active whenever we are thinking about ourselves or others, when we are remembering the past or using our past experiences to plan for the future, when we are interacting in social contexts and finding our place in the world, and when we are exploring our creativity and testing our boundaries.

    Default Mode Network is activated when we read because it supports our capacity to simulate hypothetical scenes, spaces and mental states; we must access our memories in order to understand the story we’re reading.

    It is the function of the Default Mode Network (DMN), and its relationship to reading and mental health, that presents the most compelling case for more Developmental Bibliotherapy in schools.

    Conclusion

    It is important to acknowledge that there are many categories falling under the mental illness diagnosis, and within these categories there are different underlying causes. These causes can be classified as biological, psychological and social.

    Furthermore, the difficulty of separating developmental issues from abnormal problems that require medical intervention (or as Australian comedian Alice Fraser describes it “a disaster thing or a coming-of-age thing”), the difficulties in diagnosing young people in whom emotional issues present as physical problems and uncovering hidden problems in young people who may struggle with language or trust, add to the complexities in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood and adolescent mental health.

    However, all evidence indicates that early intervention is the key to minimising the impact of mental illness. Bibliotherapy increases the likelihood of early intervention by providing language and opening communication with trusted adults, by addressing Seligman’s “3Ps” by portraying characters in similar situations, by removing stigmas and shattering stereotypes, by increasing empathy and representing diversity, by reducing fear and isolation, and by representing a wider view of normal.

    Learning from the experiences of fictional or real characters enables all of us to stand on their shoulders and thus experience a wider view of ourselves, the world and our place in it, and forces us to ask what type of life and world do we want for ourselves.

    The evidence is clear – the most cost-effective way to provide mental health benefits to children and young adults begins with supporting school libraries, employing qualified library staff and timetabling meaningful library programs.

    References for this post can be found on the Online Resources & Further Reading page.