Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Trends Cogn Sci. 2024 Aug;28(8):769-781. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.04.003. Epub 2024 May 10.
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.
许多人类行为和大脑成像研究使用叙述结构的刺激（例如书面、音频或视听故事），以便在实验室中更好地模拟真实世界的体验。然而，叙述是一类特殊的真实世界体验，主要由它们在时间上的因果关系来定义。许多当代神经科学研究都没有考虑到这一关键特性。我们回顾了行为和神经科学方面的工作，这些工作探讨了因果结构如何影响对叙述的理解和记忆。我们进一步将这些工作与强化学习联系起来，强调了叙述如何帮助在复杂环境中将原因与结果联系起来。通过在行为和结果类别之间的因果关系的可能性，强化学习模型可能会变得更加符合生态现实，同时阐明叙述的价值。
