Educators frequently use stories, music, and other forms of artistic expression to motivate scientific learning, yet there is little empirical evidence explaining whether—or how—artistic storytelling actually improves understanding of scientific concepts. This project addresses this gap by investigating the cognitive and neural mechanisms through which artistic narratives may enhance scientific learning.

The central hypothesis is that artistic narratives engage the brain’s default network—a system involved in narrative comprehension, social cognition, and meaning-making—and that this engagement supports deeper and more durable learning of scientific material. Although the default network was once thought to interfere with analytic reasoning, recent evidence suggests it may play a constructive role when scientific information is embedded within emotionally and socially meaningful contexts. This project provides the first causal test of that possibility.

The research combines large-scale behavioral experiments with functional neuroimaging (fMRI). In Aim 1, 960 participants will be randomly assigned to different learning sequences involving an educational science video and a professionally produced artistic narrative podcast that explores the same scientific topic. Learning will be assessed after a delay using validated tests and computational analyses of participants’ written recall, allowing precise measurement of scientific understanding and retention. This design isolates the specific contribution of artistic narratives beyond general exposure to relevant content.

In Aim 2, a new sample of 44 participants will complete the learning task during brain scanning (functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI). Network-level analyses will test two competing hypotheses: whether artistic narratives motivate subsequent engagement of brain systems supporting scientific reasoning, or whether default-network activity carries over into the scientific learning process itself. These analyses will reveal how large-scale brain networks interact during naturalistic learning experiences that blend art and science.

The project will generate openly shared data, preregistered analyses, and peer-reviewed publications, and findings will be disseminated to both scientific and public audiences through academic venues and a widely distributed, Templeton World Charity Foundation-funded science-and-music podcast, SongWriter. By identifying when and why artistic storytelling enhances scientific learning, this work has the potential to inform more effective, inclusive, and evidence-based educational practices, while advancing a mechanistic understanding of how meaning, emotion, and analytic reasoning jointly support human knowledge acquisition.