The neuroscience: sensory simulation and neural coupling

Two brain responses

Plain factual language relies heavily on the brain’s language-processing networks. The information can be understood without generating much sensory simulation, and mostly it disappears. Narrative can recruit additional sensory, motor and social systems, depending on what is being described.

A story does something structurally different.

The effect is partial, and the direction is clear. The listener runs something closer to a simulation of the description. That helps explain why a story can be more memorable than an equivalent sequence of abstract information.