Any book lover will happily wax lyrical about the joy that comes from both opening and completing a new tome, transporting yourself to another world from the comfort of your couch.
But while we have long known that reading is good for the soul, new research has proven it’s good for the mind too.
Research carried out by scientists at Emory University have demonstrated that immersing yourself in a novel causes measurable physical changes in the brain that can be detected for up to five days after the reader finishes the book.
In a paper published in scientific journal Brain Connectivity, the researchers compared the effect to muscle memory, saying: “The neural changes that we found associated with physical sensation and movement systems suggest that reading a novel can transport you into the body of the protagonist.”
Twenty-one undergraduate students took part in the study. All participants read the same novel, 2003 thriller Pompeii by Robert Harris. The scientists said they deliberately chose a plot-driven book.
Participants read Pompeii by Robert Harris
For a period of two and a half weeks students read 30 pages of the novel at night and had their brains scanned the following morning. The scans were taken after the students completed a test to prove they had carried out the reading. All scans were carried out for several days after each section was completed, and the results showed “heightened connectivity” in the left temporal cortex, an area of the brain associated with receptivity for language, and also in the central sulcus, the brain’s primary sensory motor region.
The study suggests that the brain responds to reading in the same way the body does to exercise, hence the “muscle memory” comparison. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re off to tackle that stack on the bedside locker.
