Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T20:13:48.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Am I present in imaginary worlds? Intentions, actions, and flow in mediated experiences and fiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Federico Pianzola
Affiliation:
Department of Human Sciences for Education “R. Massa,” University of Milan Bicocca, Milan 20126, Italyfederico.pianzola@unimib.it fabrizia.mantovani@unimib.it Department of Global Korean Studies, School of Media, Arts and Science, Sogang University, Seoul 04107, South Korea
Giuseppe Riva
Affiliation:
Humane Technology Lab., Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan 20123, Italygiuseppe.riva@unicatt.it Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan 20149, Italy
Karin Kukkonen
Affiliation:
Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Language, University of Oslo, Oslo 0371, Norwaykarin.kukkonen@ilos.uio.no
Fabrizia Mantovani
Affiliation:
Department of Human Sciences for Education “R. Massa,” University of Milan Bicocca, Milan 20126, Italyfederico.pianzola@unimib.it fabrizia.mantovani@unimib.it

Abstract

We support the idea of applying cultural evolution theory to the study of storytelling, and fiction in particular. However, we suggest that a more plausible link between real and imaginary worlds is the feeling of “presence” we can experience in both of them: we feel present when we are able to correctly and intuitively enact our embodied predictions.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bouizegarene, N., Ramstead, M. J. D., Constant, A., Friston, K. J., & Kirmayer, L. (2020). Narrative as active inference [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/47ub6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caracciolo, M. (2014). The experientiality of narrative: An enactivist approach. de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friston, K. J. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127138. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friston, K. J., Rosch, R., Parr, T., Price, C., & Bowman, H. (2017). Deep temporal models and active inference. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 77, 388402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.04.009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kukkonen, K. (2020). Probability designs: Literature and predictive processing. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pianzola, F., Riva, G., Kukkonen, K., & Mantovani, F. (2021). Presence, flow, and narrative absorption: An interdisciplinary theoretical exploration with a new spatiotemporal integrated model based on predictive processing. Open Research Europe, 1(28), 137. https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.13193.2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seth, A. K., & Friston, K. J. (2016). Active interoceptive inference and the emotional brain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 371(1708), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0007.Google ScholarPubMed