Monika Dunin-Kozicka: Perception in the Narrative of Pretenders
When we talk about narrative coherence in pretending, we usually describe it in terms of the continuity of inferences based on previous stipulations that pretenders make. For example, if the green block is a frog (stipulation), then it makes “ribbit-ribbit” sounds and it jumps (inferences). If, during this episode of pretending, someone were to treat the green block contrary to the assumption (e.g., by using it to build a tower of blocks), the narrative of the pretending would be disrupted. To my knowledge, the literature has not yet considered another element constituting the experience of narrative coherence in pretenders, namely the perceptual element. Thus, for the green block to appear to me as a frog, I have to look at it while I, the pretender, make “ribbit-ribbit” sounds and manipulate the block so that it bounces off the floor. If I were to do all these things but look at something else instead of the green block, my experience of the pretend story would be disrupted. In my talk I will use several examples to demonstrate that pretenders actively direct their perception in order to have the most consistent experience of the story they are acting out.