Brigham Young University's neuroscience of storytelling research project explores how storytelling can serve as a tool for connection, bringing together students and faculty from multiple disciplines.
Jamin Rowan, an associate professor in the English department, organizes storytelling events where data is collected and helps students develop their stories.
Mat Duerden, a professor in the BYU Department of Experience Design and Management, serves as a research manager by writing grants and bringing the group together. Both initiated the project.
“The reason we are invested in storytelling is that we’re interested in the capacity for stories to connect people to each other, to create a sense of belonging, and social connection,” Rowan said. “Help people feel like they’re not alone.”
The two recognized the power of storytelling while directing two semesters at the BYU London Centre, where students struggled to share their study abroad experiences after returning home.
To address this, Jamin Rowan and Mat Duerden adjusted the course, asking students to identify a personal need — such as worries about the future or a desire to be seen — and engage with people, organizations or objects that addressed it.
At the end of the course, students created and shared a video story with the class.
The stories were so impactful that Rowan and Duerden proposed a course in the BYU Honors Program called “The Art of Transformative Storytelling,” designed to help students craft and publicly share personal stories that changed them.
Rowan described the experience as sacred, citing the vulnerability students demonstrated.
“Mat and I walked out of that event and immediately texted each other, and we were like ‘that was amazing,’” Rowan said. “We have to figure out a way to keep this going.”
BYU Story Slam events — storytelling events designed to explore belonging and connection through storytelling — were organized to create a space for data collection.
These events include four-week workshops where students learn how to tell stronger stories before going on stage to share them.
Data is gathered in two ways: neuroscience data and social science data.
For neuroscience, the storyteller and three to four listeners wear functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) devices — headbands connected to a backpack — that track brain activity and measure when participants’ brain patterns align during the story.
For social science, quantitative surveys of audience members are conducted to assess whether feelings of connection and belonging increased during the event.
“As far as we know, we are the first people to collect this kind of neuroscience data at a live event with more than two brains involved,” Rowan said.
One area of particular interest in tracking brain activity was whether storytellers and listeners felt connected during three key elements of a story: a need, the complications in fulfilling that need and the insight gained from the experience.
“The kinds of stories that are most likely to connect students are stories that are built around the storyteller’s need,” Rowan said. “That kind of story is 100% going to connect people to that storyteller.”
The science supported this.
“When a need is introduced, the empathy portions of the brain are triggered. When a complication is introduced, problem-solving parts of the brain are like ‘what’s gonna happen,’” Duerden said. “Insight is when we really see … people’s brain waves sync together more.”
BYU Story Slam events have included interfaith, autism-related and first-year experience stories after partnering with the department.
“If first-year students struggle to match their story with BYU’s story, they’re going to struggle,” Duerden said. “They have to see how their story is part of the BYU story.”
Researchers involved in the project found that, although students’ experiences differed, they felt a stronger connection to the storytellers and to the BYU campus. Many also reported feeling less alone.
Kennedy Kleinman, a BYU student majoring in English who helped create and lead the storytelling workshops and contributed to research papers, said the experience is transformative for everyone.
“It has this power to change the reality that we live in, the way we view it, and the way we view others,” Kleinman said. “It can connect us with people that we wouldn’t otherwise connect with or speak with.”
The research has current implications, with Jamin Rowan suggesting that storytelling is increasingly being discussed.
“A lot of the conversation out there is about how to tell stories to sell something or to create and market your brand,” Rowan said. “But there aren’t that many people out there who are thinking about explicitly storytelling can connect us.”
Duerden also said storytelling is especially prevalent today, suggesting that algorithms and AI-generated content can make it more difficult to develop individual narratives.
“It’s even more relevant right now to help people gain skills, to be able to reflect and tell stories and have the confidence to share those with other people,” Duerden said.
With stories everywhere, the impact it has on people’s lives is endless.
“We all have a story, but we can learn how to tell a better story by learning how to craft it and putting in the effort to craft it,” Kleinman said.