Are you a scientist? If yes, please go to option a, and if the answer is no, and you are a creative, please see option b.  

1. It makes sense to see you here, great to have you. 

2. I am a creative too… and yet, we meet here? 

So, why have scientists and creatives met here, on this page, this month?  

What if I told you that this very introduction rewired your brain? The informal tone and questionnaire subtly shifted your mental frameworks, altering what you believe a successful newspaper article should look like, and how it should behave. If this is a ‘bad’ newspaper opening, how did it catch your attention? This is the essence of Cognitive Poetics monthly column – this is Creativity Backed by Science. 

THE BRAIN BEHIND THE LINES 

At its core, Cognitive Poetics is about the brain’s interaction with texts. It moves beyond the traditional tools of literary analysis and asks deeper, neurological questions: “why did this text intrigue me?”  The answer being mental structures we do not realise we possess. 

Unlike classic literary theory, which looks at texts in isolation, Cognitive Poetics begins with the reader. It investigates how our mental processes interact with language – how memory, perception, and emotion are engaged in real-time when we read. It draws on ideas from psychology, neuroscience, and linguistics to decode our expectations and understanding. 

Creativity is a two-way street. Authors design language to challenge the reader’s cognitive processes, and the reader brings their interpretations to craft new meanings. The brain, far from passively absorbing information, is actively creating meaning as it processes each word, each metaphor, each unexpected turn of phrase. 

BEYOND: COGNITION IN EVERYDAY LANGUAGE 

Cognitive Poetics isn’t confined to poetry or literature alone: the principles it uncovers apply to all language such as advertisements, political speeches, even everyday conversations. Any speech, or description taps into the same mechanisms of creative meaning-making. If we can understand these, we can reveal how language influences our beliefs, emotions, and decisions. 

Cognitive Poetics ultimately shows us that creativity is not the sole domain of the writer or poet; every time we engage with language our brain is engaged in a dynamic, creative act. It’s the unseen cognitive choreography behind every line we read, connecting words to experiences, ideas to emotions, and challenging us to see the world in new ways. 

It tells us that understanding creativity isn’t just about the artist; it’s about how we, as readers and thinkers, participate in the creative process every time we encounter language. 

NEXT TIME… 

Next time we will dive into prototypicality—the process by which our brains categorise texts, ideas, and understanding. Discover how these mental frameworks shape our perceptions and how we can deviate from them to create more innovative thinking!