neuratieve

neuratieve is a term used to describe a proposed interdisciplinary framework for studying how neural processes underpin narrative experiences and storytelling. The term blends elements of neuroscience with narrative theory to examine how the brain processes and generates stories, and how stories shape cognition and emotion.

Within this view, researchers investigate how brain networks such as the default mode, salience, and language systems collaborate during narrative comprehension, production, and memory encoding. Methods commonly include functional MRI, electroencephalography, lesion studies, and computational modeling using naturalistic stimuli such as films and novels. The goal is to link specific cognitive operations—such as perspective taking, prediction, and emotional engagement—with identifiable neural patterns.

Applications span education, therapy, media design, and human-computer interaction, where understanding neural-narrative coupling can inform instructional storytelling, narrative therapy techniques, and immersive interfaces. The field emphasizes replicability and ecological validity due to the complexity of real-world storytelling and experience.

Critiques address methodological challenges in mapping rich, high-level narrative processes to neural data and the risk of oversimplifying brain–story relationships. As a relatively new concept, neuratieve remains a topic of theoretical discussion and pilot studies rather than a mature discipline, with ongoing debates about definitions, scope, and best practices.

Etymology traces neuratieve to a fusion of neural and narrative, highlighting the aim to formalize the study of the neural basis of storytelling. The term is not widely standardized and may appear in speculative or experimental literature before achieving broader consensus.