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Podcast: Trinity Long Room Hub Podcasts
Episode: Fellow In Focus: Prof Ronan McDonald
Description: Recorded February 13th, 2025.
Pay Attention!: Literary Studies, Neurohumanities and the ‘Distraction Economy’
Trinity Long Room Hub Visiting Research Fellow Prof Ronan McDonald (University of Melbourne, Australia) in conversation with Prof Christopher Morash (School of English, TCD) and Prof Shane O'Mara (TCIN, TCD).
‘Attention studies’ is burgeoning in academic and popular fora, not least because there is a common perception that we live in an era of digital distraction. Drawing on insights from neuroscience, this project considers the relationship between reading and attention in literary studies. It considers how reading orientates our mind, between various affective states that compel or distract: between...