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      Interactive Digital Narratives as Complex Expressive Means

      Frontiers in Virtual Reality
      Frontiers Media SA

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          Abstract

          Is our way of expressing meanings through digital interactive artifacts simple? How does our sensemaking work when we try to understand Interactive Digital Narratives? To answer these and other questions, the present article discusses a complex-systemic understanding of the expressive mechanisms of Interactive Digital Narratives, to argue the expressive complexity of these artifacts. Interactors of Interactive Digital Narratives necessarily base their hermeneutic processes mainly on what is conveyed in the artifact itself; yet the question of how meaning is expressed in (and sense-making is guided by) Interactive Digital Narratives remains significantly open. I contend that sense-making in such artifacts works by synthetizing the knowledge coming from a number of layers of information, which are intercurrent, interdependent and interoperating, and which concurrently participate in the creation of an overall meaning of a higher order. According to complex systems theory, these layers are therefore elements of a complex system: this justifies the understanding of Interactive Digital Narratives as complex expressive means. Even though largely unexplored, this understanding may help advance our knowledge of the representational capabilities and affordances of Interactive Digital Narrarives, not least in representing multifaceted worlds and complex phenomena. A complex-systemic view can also improve our comprehension of the interpretative processes involved in the sense-making of Interactive Digital Narratives. Furthermore, the awareness gained through this understanding could be useful to get a better sense of the impact of the narratives featured in these artifacts, and ultimately to create more engaging and more powerful experiences that can help foster the societal impact of Interactive Digital Narratives.

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          Most cited references97

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            The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery

            Mental imagery can be advantageous, unnecessary and even clinically disruptive. With methodological constraints now overcome, research has shown that visual imagery involves a network of brain areas from the frontal cortex to sensory areas, overlapping with the default mode network, and can function much like a weak version of afferent perception. Imagery vividness and strength range from completely absent (aphantasia) to photo-like (hyperphantasia). Both the anatomy and function of the primary visual cortex are related to visual imagery. The use of imagery as a tool has been linked to many compound cognitive processes and imagery plays both symptomatic and mechanistic roles in neurological and mental disorders and treatments.
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              Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Frontiers in Virtual Reality
                Front. Virtual Real.
                Frontiers Media SA
                2673-4192
                May 26 2022
                May 26 2022
                : 3
                Article
                10.3389/frvir.2022.854960
                ec350656-56fc-424f-a03f-48313da851c1
                © 2022

                Free to read

                https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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