This is why you should attend this talk: Clickbait and the reception of news stories

Narratives have long been considered a  medially and primarily textually anchored structure. Although cognitive narratology has introduced the methodologies and terminology to discuss the wide scope of human experience from a narratological point of view, most practical applications remain grounded in the semiotic-structural paradigm. The Experimental Humanities Lab at Indiana University, headed by Fritz Breithaupt, studies narratives as a part of human interaction and behavior. The lab’s approach is centered on story retellings (serial reproductions). Its goal is to reclaim what the humanities have always done: Ask questions, observe, question our world, experiment and gather data. What started out with a project on the narrative factors that influence people’s implicit moral judgment soon developed into weekly lab meetings during which students and researchers from different backgrounds (from psychology to neuroscience) tackle a range of different topics: interactions between medical doctors and patients, legal affairs, empathy or even what it means to fall in love. This panel presents a showcase of recent research done by members of the Experimental Humanities Lab. The papers do not only aim to show the impact of narratives on the breadth of human experience, but also wish to demonstrate that this insight, in turn, challenges conventional interpretations of literary works and the way they affect the reading experience.