Neuroscience at heart of Jorge Luis Borges' literature

Professor Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, a Neuroscientist from the University of Leicester’s Department of Engineering, has made the unlikely link between the worlds of neuroscience and literature.

An article published in Nature magazine uncovers Jorge Luis Borges’ fascination with memory and neuroscience. In the article Professor Quian Quiroga considers Borges’ fictional story Funes the memorious, highlighting the central character, Ireneo Funes, and his vast memory and infinite powers of recollection.

Borges argued that somebody able to remember absolutely everything, like Funes, would be incapable of generalizations and abstractions, processes that are crucial for learning. Professor Quian Quiroga’s discovery of ‘abstract neurons’ in the human brain firing to different persons or objects – for example, a neuron firing only to pictures of the actress Halle Berry and even her written name – provides an interesting link to Funes’ story. He argues that a character like Funes and perhaps even autistic patients, overwhelmed by details and not able to create abstractions, may lack this type of neuron. With the character of Funes, Borges described the problems of distorted memory capacities well ahead of his time.

Borges had a longstanding interest in psychology, memory and neuroscience. Professor Quian Quiroga travelled to meet his widow, Maria Kodoma, in Buenos Aires to find out more about the writer. She spoke of Borges as a prolific reader with an extraordinary memory, who even after becoming blind would have people to read for him and would be able to recite long passages in different languages.

This new research into the neuroscience behind Borges’ literature, part funded by The Royal Society, sheds new light on the Argentinean writer and his advanced understanding of memory function.

Professor Quian Quiroga commented:

“Borges stories have fascinated me since I was a young physics student. I particularly liked how from seemingly innocent tales, his stories would suddenly take off to a completely different and surreal dimension, where he plays with ideas such as infinity: in interminable libraries, diverging history paths, inexpugnable labyrinths or a point containing the whole universe.

“Funes’ story gave a nice link to my research and I was really delighted to meet Maria Kodama on a few occasions to talk about Borges, his scientific interests and his amazing memory. I am also very thankful to Maria Kodama for allowing me access to Borges’ private library to examine his readings and notes, always in minuscule writing at the first or last page of his books.

“I believe Borges’ sharp description of Funes in the 1940s gives a very clear and refreshing view for neuroscientists, especially those interested in memory, which could perhaps be parallel to those of Luria and James, two very influential scientists in brain research.”