Neurologist and Author Pria Anand on What Storytelling Reveals About the Human Brain

Dean Lloyd Minor welcomes neurologist and author Pria Anand, MD, for a conversation about the power of narrative in neurology. They explore how symptoms such as sleep paralysis and confabulation — the brain’s tendency to fill gaps in memory — can illuminate how the brain works, and how culture shapes the way people experience, interpret, and describe illness. They also discuss what the brain’s storytelling tendencies may reveal about AI, why human connection matters for healthy aging, and how emerging imaging technologies could transform our understanding of the nervous system.