How is it that we become absorbed in reading a book? Why do we find the word "Libelle" (dragonfly) to be lovely, but "Wutzelkrump" (a nonsense word) ugly? Raoul Schrott, Austrian author and former Samuel-Fischer Guest Professor at the Freie Universität, wanted to know: "What is language made of?" He spoke with psychology professor Arthur Jacobs, who researches language and emotion at the Freie Universität's Cluster of Excellence "Languages of Emotion," about the connections between language and emotion. 

"Am I producing rubbish?" Writer Raoul Schrott, standing at the podium in the Academy of Arts at Pariser Platz, repeated the question that plagued him when he began his research into poetry and the brain. His hunt for answers led him to Arthur Jacobs, professor at the department of General and Neurocognitive Psychology at the Languages of Emotion Cluster of Excellence, at the Freie Universität. "Brain and Poetry. How we construct our realities" is the 528-page result of the dialog between the author and psychologist: It's "a program in kaleidoscopic montage form," said moderator Winfried Menninghaus, professor for general and comparative literature at the Freie Universität. Schrott loves "really big challenges," he added – a reference to his controversial 2008 retransmission of Homer's "Iliad," which launched a media storm.

Neuronal processes can be found in elementary literary devices 

"I used to think that language was the boundary of my world. But do we really only think in language?" asked Schrott, speaking at the Academy of Art. Meter and metaphors are his literary tools, but the impact of image and rhythm also may be found in everyday life, in logos and brand names. The medication "Viagra," whose name is deliberately reminiscent of Niagara Falls, says Schrott, is an example of how names and vowel sequences can awaken associations.

Working alongside psychologist Jacobs, the author learned that lines of poetry are generally read in three seconds; this corresponds exactly with the three seconds it takes for the brain to process information. And he learned that the section of the brain that identifies visual word-forms originally identified objects, triggering a flight reflex. Over the course of evolution, this area of the brain took over the task of recognizing linguistic symbols. Since this part of the brain is particularly enmeshed with other parts, a reader can become immersed in a text, carried away by it.

What goes on in the brain, when one reads and understands texts?

"Words activate neuronal networks," Jacobs explained. He was able to demonstrate how fast the brain recognizes words, by gradually revealing a word, letter by letter, beamed onto a screen before the audience. They could read the sequence of letters SUCHT (addiction or seeks) – there was a successful "lexical access" – but the reader needed context in order to decide whether this symbol should be seen as a verb or noun.

Empirical studies enable Arthur Jacobs to prove that both sides of the brain respond to texts, as well as to aesthetic and emotional stimuli. Many questions remain unanswered, for example: When and why do we find a particular poem particularly pleasing to the ear? And what role does our mother tongue plays in our appreciation of poetry?

The secrets of language, which remain hidden despite ultra-modern methods of analysis, create space for poetry – and for further explorations by the Cluster of Excellence.

By Gisela Gross

This article is published in campus.leben, the Online Magazine of the Freie Universität of Berlin, available here: www.fu-berlin.de/campusleben/campus/2011/110318_schrott_jacobs/index.html