Lane Beckes is Associate Professor of Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience at Bradley University. Lane studies social processes at the intersection of cognition, emotion, and neurobiology. His research interests include social bonding, empathy, emotion, and prosocial behavior. Read a previous interview with Lane in Museum Questions here. Lane, over the past few months I have heard,…
What do museums have to say about, or learn from, recent events in Charlottesville? Museum leaders and professionals have shared statements condemning and consoling, from their position as community leaders. Bloggers and professional organizations have also shared resources, as museums take on the role of educators. Thankfully but not surprisingly, museums and museum professionals are advocates…
In two recent posts I explored the role of storytelling in museums, and particularly in museum exhibitions. In Should Exhibits Tell Stories I questioned whether storytelling provokes the response museums hope for from visitors. A few weeks later, in What do Stories do?, I interviewed cognitive psychologist Lane Beckes, who discussed the psychological impact of storytelling and…
A few weeks ago I shared a post questioning whether storytelling was an appropriate or useful format for museums exhibitions. This post received a number of comments, including people suggesting that stories evoke emotions, and that emotions are important for learning. In order to better understand how stories work, I interviewed Lane Beckes, Assistant Professor…
This is a post I have been trying to write for a long time – over a year. I’m still struggling, so bear with me. There has been a great deal written over the past few years about museums and storytelling. Storytelling was the theme of the 2013 Annual Alliance of Museums conference. In a 2014…
Museum Questions 