Why storytelling is training for the brain

It starts in childhood with: “Read me a story, please!” As adults, we ask each other: “What are you reading or watching at the moment?” And later in life, it’s: “Did I ever tell you the story about …”

Why are stories so important, and how do they benefit us?

To answer this, we need first to consider the function of a dominant part of our brain, the frontal cortex. This is where “higher order” functions take place – powers of reasoning and problem-solving, planning and imagining, and making judgments and decisions. We engage the cortex whenever we try to make sense of the world and our place in it.

Now let’s look at stories. There are three main components of a good story: characters, setting and plot. Within the plot there will be conflict – a problem that needs solving – and at the end, closure – some sort of solution to that problem.

Therefore, a story provides the perfect workout for the cortex, helping this important part of our brain mature and develop healthily. The characters in stories introduce us to possible role models as well as to behaviours we’ll definitely want to avoid. With setting, we learn about far-flung places even those we may never actually visit And, most importantly, the plot teaches us how to recognise, make sense of and solve problems.

Stories also speak to our emotions. The suspense that builds throughout the plot feels deliciously dangerous, but at the same time it’s safe because we know it’s not happening in real life. When we become involved with the conflicts that characters face in a story, we have the opportunity to forget about any uncomfortable dilemmas we may be wrestling with in our own lives for a while. And when we identify with a particular character, we may discover more about our own identity and/or discover better ways to cope.

Stories help us in different ways at different times in our lives. Children’s language development is enhanced when they listen to stories, so they gain more finely tuned ways of communicating. Stories teach children how to solve problems in an engaging way. They also strengthen memory, particularly when children listen repeatedly to their favourites.

Teenagers, on the threshold of independence, are particularly interested in character and setting because these aspects of a story offer templates, different ways they might choose to live, and different aspects of identity they may wish to adopt as they struggle to create their unique identity.

Stories offer adults new ways to solve problems and live through crises. Adults can also find release in stories, as a pleasurable escape from the chaos they may be feeling at that particular time.

As we grow older, we feel increasingly a need to tell our own story, to order and make sense of our life, so we can feel our existence has had meaning and purpose.