Amy shared this fascinating article with me about the neuroscience associated with reading a novel, and I thought I'd pass it along to other book-lovers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?pagewanted=all
Excerpts:
""Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, performed an
analysis of 86 fMRI studies, published last year in the Annual Review of
Psychology, and concluded that there was substantial overlap in the
brain networks used to understand stories and the networks used to
navigate interactions with other individuals — in particular,
interactions in which we’re trying to figure out the thoughts and
feelings of others. Scientists call this capacity of the brain to
construct a map of other people’s intentions “theory of mind.”
Narratives offer a unique opportunity to engage this capacity, as we
identify with characters’ longings and frustrations, guess at their
hidden motives and track their encounters with friends and enemies,
neighbors and lovers.
"It is an exercise that hones our real-life social skills, another body
of research suggests. Dr. Oatley and Dr. Mar, in collaboration with
several other scientists, reported in two studies, published in 2006 and
2009, that individuals who frequently read fiction seem to be better
able to understand other people, empathize with them and see the world
from their perspective.
"A 2010 study by Dr. Mar found a similar result in preschool-age
children: the more stories they had read to them, the keener their
theory of mind — an effect that was also produced by watching movies
but, curiously, not by watching television. (Dr. Mar has conjectured
that because children often watch TV alone, but go to the movies with
their parents, they may experience more “parent-children conversations
about mental states” when it comes to films.)"
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