Just in case you needed it, scientists at Stanford University are compiling scientific proof that reading is good for your brain.
The lab rats, in this case, are literary PhD candidates from the San Francisco Bay Area, taking part in a literary neuroscience experiment – a field in its infancy. Researchers send graduate students into an MRI machine and instruct them to read a text from a Jane Austen novel.
This is one of the first such experiments to study how the brain responds to literature and how does reading affect the brain. Preliminary results reveal a “dramatic and unexpected increase in blood flow to regions of the brain beyond those responsible for ‘executive function,’ areas which would normally be associated with paying close attention to a task, such as reading.
According to Natalie Phillips, the literary scholar leading the project, “it’s not only what we read – but thinking rigorously about it that’s of value, and that literary study provides a truly valuable exercise of people’s brains.”
I’m not sure I need anyone to convince me that reading Jane Austen improves my quality of life. I would read Jane anywhere. Even in an MRI machine. (Although in this case, the subjects did not go into the machine clinging to paperbacks – the text was projected onto a mirror inside the MRI scanner.) But long before I picked up my first Jane Austen novel, there were so many beloved stories, such as fairy tales. These instilled in me a love of reading that I carry with me always.
We don’t need a neuroscientist to tell us that reading is good for our children. As for reading fairy tales, there are multiple benefits – such as helping to improve reading skills and reading comprehension. Many fairy tale champions believe that a daily dose of these classic books for kids can help them do better in school.
Instilling in them a lifelong love of reading is one of the greatest gifts we, as parents, can give. And we know that kids love it when their parents read to them. But the next time you sit down with them to read a bedtime story, won’t it be good to imagine all that activity going on in their young minds?
