![]() Studies show that several types of media, from books to TV shows to music, can definitely help with mood management. And evidence suggests that may have measurable benefits in terms of health. But neuroscience research shows it’s good for other cognitive skills, too, by stimulating the neural networks in the brain that improve our social cognition and conceptual processing of abstract content. We’ve all heard from countless grade-school teachers that reading improves our vocabulary. (It isn’t that people who are empathetic happen to prefer to read more.) Reading is good for our brains and may even help us live longer “Fiction is the mind’s flight simulator,” Oatley says.Īnd importantly, the research shows it’s reading fiction that improves empathy and not the other way around, Oatley adds. You get to encounter a lot of different scenarios where you’re completely safe, but you can learn a lot about what to do in an emergency, unusual weather conditions, and more. Think of learning how to fly an airplane by using a flight simulator in addition to flying an actual plane. ![]() And data suggests the same area of the brain actually gets fired up when people read and comprehend fictional stories, as gets activated when we’re in the process of understanding other people. Multiple studies have replicated these findings, Oatley says. If you can identify with a character in some way, you actually get to lead a different life (temporarily and, of course, in a limited way), says Oatley. Research shows that people who reported reading the most fiction scored higher on both empathy tests and social ability tests. Reading fiction also helps us better understand, connect with and interact with others in the real world (after we put that book down). “Anytime we feel connected to others, we feel good in general and feel good about our lives.” It bolsters all sorts of social skills ![]() “Social connection is a strong, human need,” the study’s author Shira Gabriel, PhD, associate professor of psychology at UB, said in a press release shortly after the research was published. Afterward the students reported (psychologically-speaking) becoming part of the characters’ worlds during that time and having some of the same feelings of satisfaction and happiness that we get from real-world social interactions. A group of 140 undergraduate students were asked to read either “Twilight” or “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for a half-hour. Researchers at the University at Buffalo showed in an experiment that reading actually satisfies that need for human connection because it can mimic what we feel during real social interactions. “You give up some of your own habits and thoughts, and you take on your own idea of being a different person in circumstances that you might otherwise never had been in.” Reading makes us think and feel in new and different ways, explains Keith Oatley, PhD, professor emeritus in the department of applied psychology and human development at University of Toronto. Stories about other people teach us to be the types of people we want to be Regardless of the specific volumes that suck you in the most, here are just some of the things that can happen when you get lost in a novel. And some people are just more interested in one type of story ( romance, for instance) versus another (thriller), she adds. ![]() For some it’s a quick-moving plot that’s critical, while for others engaging characters or a poetic writing style is most important if you want to get lost in the storyline. Green researches the idea of “transportation” - or what makes it possible to get “lost in a book.” She says it’s more likely to happen if you’re reading a high-quality text, but “quality” in this case is subjective and something that gets determined by you. “Stories allow us to feel connected with others and part of something bigger than ourselves.” Plus, reading has been shown to help us better understand and interact with other people, keep our brains sharp, expand our world views and grow as individuals, Green says. “It can provide an escape from boredom or stress.” “One of the benefits to reading fiction is simply that it provides enjoyment and pleasure,” Melanie Green, PhD, associate professor in the department of communication at University at Buffalo, tells NBC News BETTER.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |