Impact of story on the brain
[Music]
good morning friends
i am dr shweta and i am going to present
something very interesting about the
brain
however the theme is reinventing the
world but we will see it through the
lens of reinvention of our thoughts and
self so let me take you back in time
1748
a young gentleman british aristocrat and
a politician
named mr john montego love to play cards
now as you know you need two hands to
play the cards mr john
also wanted to eat at the same time how
do you do that you want to play the
cards with both hands but also eat
simultaneously
so mr john had an idea to put meat in
between the two lofts of the brain
bread sorry and eat it like a sandwich
while playing the cards
i want you to imagine he’s playing cards
with one hand while eating with the
other
and nothing less than what we call the
modern day
sandwich was born yes my dear friends
he’s the fourth
earl of sandwich now i could have
presented this fact in a very dry
fashion
informationally oriented that sandwich
was invented by john montego
sandwich is a meatloaf which is kept in
between the two
slices of the bread how would it sound
and possibly you will never
remember that when i created a story
around it your brain started to
imagine mr john montego’s picture and
started to imagine that he’s playing
cards
you started to connect with the
character and bring out visually
a vivid picture of him in your brain
my dear friends this is the power of
storytelling
and today as a neuroscientist a neuro
researcher
a neurologist let me bring you these
super facts about the story telling
capability
of the brain as well as the trap
with which the brain can absolutely be
affected
by the same story telling uh capability
of the brain so you may be wondering how
is this possible
yes so this another 14 minutes we will
drive down this beautiful logic
that you cannot fall into the trap of
the stories while at the same time
you need to have the ability to tell
beautiful stories listen to the stories
and make meaning out of it
brain is one fantastic sophisticated
instrument
i always call it as the romance with the
brain
and i’m sure if you will read about
those facts
it will be an imminent romance for you
as well
we have evolved we evolved from the
little tiny creepy crawly creatures
called the reptilian brain to the
mammalian brain
which is in elephants to this
sophisticated human brain with a
beautiful thing called cortex
or the rational brain but we still
harbor that limbic brain
or the emotional brain which is in the
reptiles right
here both parts of the brain are there
right here kicking in
as you even listen to me what
is the brain doing when you are
listening a story now this is very very
powerful
okay and that is the reason why
hollywood is into business bollywood is
into business
any person who tells a great story is
into business
you immediately your brain can connect
you can donate you can
absolutely win the hearts of people if
you have the ability to tell a powerful
story
university of southern california the
scientist discovered
a default mode network in the brain it’s
a beautiful network which we thought
it’s autopiloting
and it has nothing really to do with our
lives well it has a lot to do with our
lives
it is the one which associates meanings
to these stories
and it is very prudent to keep them
within our brains for a long period of
time
you will remember stories when you were
little kids
we all read cha cha chaudhary and uh
amarshita katha and all as we grew up
we still remember those stories why
because our
bottom parts of the brain or practically
the anchoring portions of the brain
connected that meaning to the character
a narrative
obviously is very important but the
emotion
that you connect to a character gives
life to a story
if you want to become a great
storyteller you have to
get to that emotional content to that
emotional self of the brain to your
listener
neuroscience says a listener’s brain and
a storyteller’s brain has the same
number of neurons or the brain cells
kicked in
isn’t it marvelous why because the brain
is searching for meaning we are all
meaning making machines a narrative is
told
what is in it for me immediately the
brain connects to a meaning
how many of you have passed by the
highways and the roads
there is a road traffic accident you
have nothing to do with the accident
you are driving or you are sitting in
the back seat of the car but you will
stop to look
what is happening why is it so
it’s because your brain wanted to
know if there is something for me to
learn in the scene
out there brain is constantly seeking
meaning
brain is constantly figuring it out what
is happening around
and most importantly why it is happening
around
this is the meaning making drive of the
brain which makes it unique
you all are students you all have a
beautiful life out there
if you understand what a brain
understands i think we will get rid of
all the failure
related suicides and all the drug
addictions and all the traps
it is an instrument if you bring in a
fantastic
uh mp3 player and then you just
plug it in without reading the manual
what will happen
possibly it will work well very good
possibly it will just blow
off because you plucked it wrong the
voltage that you were supposed to do was
incorrect
possibly it will not work so
reading the manual would actually lead
you to not commit that mistake
so for me as a neuroscientist i consider
brain as an instrument
knowing some fundamental facts about
brain is something which can make your
life successful
make you connect to the world better
make you a great human being and
embrace peace happiness and success
the fundamentals are very small but very
powerful
coming back to the brain i’m a great
proponent of whole brain
so left side of the brain is merely
understanding the narrative the
information the structure
the sequences the logic the numbers
while the right side of the brain is
more interested in the multimedia
pictures videos
music dance drama literature theater
arts
but the whole brain and the story is
something which kicks the whole brain
stories kick the whole brain out not
just left or right
and stories create a deep and powerful
meaning so what you should do in your
daily lives
read motivational stories connect to
people who share their stories
be absolutely interested in
knowing about other people’s story your
brain can learn better
than to read simple informational facts
stories activate this default mode
network which we talked about from
university of southern california
connected deeper make
oxytocin oxytocin dopamine these are all
happy chemicals
you can associate with the character
create happiness
understand relate engage and take a step
in your life so my dear friends
stories are immensely powerful
read more stories listen to more stories
be a fantastic storyteller in your life
learn how to craft stories you can
actually
even perform better in anything that you
do if you
have crafted this habit of storytelling
remember you’re kicking the whole brain
of the other person
you are bringing that connection meaning
making drive
off that brain by telling that but wait
is it only the positive aspect of the
story and the motivational content which
we get connected to
unfortunately not the same meaning
making drive off the brain the same
drive which is making us understand the
stories is
also the cause of our failure
and you may be wondering why is it so
because what really happens is because
of the meaning making drive
i’m constantly figuring out why a friend
passes by
and does not wave at me and i wonder hey
what happened you know my brain is
talking to me and say i think
yesterday we had a fight and possibly
she is upset at me
ah she’s mad at me because i didn’t send
her a text message
ah she is thinking like that because
i told her something last week you see
this
now poor she she may not have recognized
you all together
she may be in her own busy world she may
be in her own thoughts
but what your brain did just now is
the meaning making machine driven
thoughts okay you just wanted to know
why she did that to you
she didn’t wave at you why was the
reason what was the reason
and in this process what we do and let
me tell you we do this
every day day in and day out we receive
thousands of messages
right whatsapp social media and every
time there is a communication
what we do is we bring this drive on we
bring this brain into thinking
what is she thinking why is this
happening why is she sent this sort of a
smiley somebody just told me that what
is the meaning of this smiley
and i’m like well the meaning in my mind
was blessing
i don’t know what you took it but this
is how because every single brain
connects to its experiences connects to
its deep emotion
and brings out a meaning and what
happens in the process
what happens in the process is we are
tired our brain is exhausted making
meaning from
absolutely everything what is happening
around
i want you to be careful to not fall
trap
at this meaning making part of the brain
i want you to be conscious
i want you to live every day not
committing this mistake or
falling trapped to this meaning making
drive i see suicides
i see people dropping dead at the
pretext that i will not get good marks
the marks are not out yet the student
has given the exam
but the pretext the brain has made a
story i’m not going to succeed
i’m going to be a failure i’m not going
to pass
and what happens you commit suicide at
that
powerful emotional drive that i am a
failure drives you to push the limits of
existence and commit suicide which is
very bad because now
posthumously excellent marks come out
your pretext what you made was
completely fallacious
it was absolutely wrong whatever you
trusted to your brain’s emotional
capability that it’s making a story and
a meaning that you will fail
was absolutely wrong so my dear friends
i want you to take this
home a message that consciously please
think what your brain is doing
there is a mode of autopilot happening
yes as i drive the car my brain
absolutely takes all the sensations but
it’s barely aware sometimes you wonder
oh i reached this destination
i’m sure a lot of you would have felt
that auto pilot drive of the brain it
happens often but i want you to be
conscious
in this process especially when it is
making meanings
when it is relating meanings texting
has become so popular in exercise but
tell me how many relations are made
through texting
if you look at the data most people are
having divorces because of the
miscommunication through texting
well there is no connection there is no
story you cannot read my body language
you cannot read me you cannot understand
what i am trying to think or portray
while you just see the message
and what you feel is your brain’s
meaning
making drive gets on wild it thinks
negative most of the times
we are into the survival mode fight or
flight
okay we are physiologically tuned to go
either into the fight mode or the flight
mode
and i have done that i’ve lost a
wonderful family friend because of this
reason
because i had every single message every
single
moment i feel threatened i feel
threatened to survival
i feel threatened in a relationship and
this is what makes my brain
absolutely become negative associate a
negative meaning to it
well that is not the truth so my very
important message to you friends is
yes brains love stories you must
make habit of reading great stories to
become successful
you must connect to people who can tell
you real life stories
who are heroes of their own life yes you
have to watch documentaries which are
portraying
unbelievable and unimaginable stories
your whole brain kicks in
you connect at a deeper level your
emotional drive is intact
you understand meaning much deeper than
what a brain would ever
ever ever get it mr paul and dr paul and
his experiments are fantastic to know
the amount of the brain which gets
stimulated
when you listen to a story absolutely
phenomenal you should leverage this part
of the brain
you should not uh think that stories are
something which are unimportant stories
are very very powerful
make a habit to create a story make a
habit to present yourself in a beautiful
way whenever you’re introducing yourself
in a story
but don’t fall trapped to
this meaning making drive unfortunately
we live in a world where communication
has advanced but our relationships have
faltered
we live in a very very threatened
and sort of a society where everything
is
negatively portrayed within ourselves
unfortunately because it is the meaning
making drive which is within ourselves
and the only way to come out of that is
you and me understanding this meaning
making drive
and then giving a positive twist to it
so the next time when i see this friend
going from one
place to the other and not waving a high
at me
i should make a positive story and tell
to the brain ah
i think she did not notice ah i think
she is in her own thoughts poor she
ah i think she is already busy doing
something and that is the reason she did
not attend
well when i tell this positive relation
to the story this positive emotion to
the story
the brain does not get down into a
spiral mode
of survival fight or flight it is
relaxed
it is not stressed now it can think
better
so every day i want you guys to observe
how many times we do this we do this day
in and day out
any age no age is bad at that
i want you to consciously come out of
this trap but at the same time
leverage the power of stories educators
teachers this is a request to bring in
as much life stories as possible as many
people who can tell their stories to
our young brilliant bright minds brain
is waiting
brain is waiting to for that moment
to connect to engage to build to develop
and as the story is powerful the
narrative is powerful
the emotion is deeper and the message is
absolutely drilled inside the brain
so thank you i hope that
this ride across understanding the story
one understanding how brain relates to
the story
and two falling trap to brain’s ability
to create story
is understood well and i pray that this
is applicable in everyday
life and thank you again for a patient
hearing
uh kudos to the brain kudos to you kudos
to self
let’s not just reinvent the self
but reinvent community nation
society world and planet at large
[Music]
goodbye
you