By Julia Ryan
The Atlantic - Jan 9 2014
Scientists have proven in the past that reading
stimulates many different parts of the brain. In a 2006 study, for
example, research subjects read the words “perfume” and “coffee,” and
the part of their brains devoted to the sense of smell lit up. While
these studies have focused
on brain activity while a person is reading, a new study suggests that
reading doesn’t just make a fleeting impression. It may make long-term
changes to to the brain.
The new study
out of Emory University looks at how the brain changes function and
structure over the course of reading a novel. Researchers asked 21 Emory
undergraduates to come in for fMRIs over 19 days. For the first five
days, researchers took baseline fMRIs of the students’ brains. Over the
following nine days, participants read 30 pages of the Robert Harris’s
novel Pompeii at night and then
completed a quiz to ensure they had completed the reading. They
underwent fMRIs the next morning. After finishing the novel,
participants continued to come in for fMRIs for five more days.
Past studies of the intersection between reading and brain
structure have focused on brain activity while reading: Participants
would read short stories while researchers took fMRIs of their brains.
This study, however, evaluated the possibility of a longer-lasting
impact from reading.
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