ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2024
The causal structure and computational value of narratives.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed.
- Event segmentation and encoding rely on information accumulated over different temporal scales.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Event segmentation and encoding rely on information accumulated over different temporal scales.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Cortical reinstatement of causally related events sparks narrative insights by updating neural representation patterns.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Interactive narratives reveal the personalizing effect of agency on episodic memory.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Sign language narrative reveals universal and modality-specific features of cortical timescale hierarchy.Nature communications · 2026Article
- pyhgf: A neural network library for predictive coding.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Temporal Context Reinstatement Drives Episodic-Like Order Memory in Long-Context Language Models.Proceedings of machine learning research · 2026Article
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- Causal and Chronological Relationships Predict Memory Organization for Nonlinear Narratives.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- Temporal asymmetries in inferring unobserved past and future events.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Resilience-related neural similarity during naturalistic movie watching.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Many human behavioral and brain imaging studies have used narratively structured stimuli (e.g., written, audio, or audiovisual stories) to better emulate real-world experience in the laboratory. However, narratives are a special class of real-world experience, largely defined by their causal connections across time. Much contemporary neuroscience research does not consider this key property. We review behavioral and neuroscientific work that speaks to how causal structure shapes comprehension of and memory for narratives. We further draw connections between this work and reinforcement learning, highlighting how narratives help link causes to outcomes in complex environments. By incorporating the plausibility of causal connections between classes of actions and outcomes, reinforcement learning models may become more ecologically valid, while simultaneously elucidating the value of narratives.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.