cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17499284
Brain structure can tell us a lot about reading skills. Importantly, though, the brain is malleable — it changes when we learn a new skill or practice an already acquired one.
For instance, young adults who studied language intensively increased their cortical thickness in language areas. Similarly, reading is likely to shape the structure of the left Heschl’s gyrus and temporal pole. So, if you want to keep your Heschl’s thick and thriving, pick up a good book and start reading.
[…] it’s worth considering what might happen to us as a species if skills like reading become less prioritised. Our capacity to interpret the world around us and understand the minds of others would surely diminish. In other words, that cosy moment with a book in your armchair isn’t just personal – it’s a service to humanity.
This is kinda like saying "people who exercise have different arms .
It is still kind of interesting that the brain-muscle comparison is a bit more literal than I thought.
The last paragraph of the synopsis above kinda details why this might matter - areas of the brain don’t have such defined and limited purposes as musculature.
A recent similar study found that the area of the brain responsible for spatial location is smaller in people who rely on sat-nav exclusively. That might not seem like much of a problem, as everyone has one in their pocket now, so so what? Well, it turns out that that area is also responsible for mapping our social landscape too, and if it shrinks, our ability to maintain larger and more complex social groups suffers. The ability to read is quite a specific skill, but strongly linked to the kind of imagination used to create these complex worlds and characters in your imagination - how would loosing that ability affect designers/artists/architects etc?
I have no doubt the research is useful but this article just seems like speculative “scare mongering” to try to make the research seem like it’s “more important” to non-scientists than it may seem. And it may spawn a bunch of “want to use your satnav better? scientists say you should read more!” type fluff articles.
Ha, yeah, to be fair, I didn’t read the article, I just looked at the research paper it was based on. I’ve given up on a lot of science reporting, it sensationalises things from otherwise sensible studies far too often
Yeah… but anyone can see people’s arms from the outside.
Interesting article. I would really like to know of there is also a difference between people reading visually and those consuming audiobooks. I know several people that don’t read books anymore but listen to audiobooks a lot.
I’ve only seen one study on this, but iirc it found that people who listened to to audiobooks only displayed the same degree of neurological engagement when they were able to focus on the audio. Passive listeners appeared to have similar reactions to those just watching television.
I just want to know how people mentally process audio without having to rewind every five minutes. I find it exhausting if I’m listening to something complex that I actually care about.
I feel like serial audiobookers must have crazy multitasking abilities.
Podcasts while doing cardio is about my comfort limit.
I’m sorta with you, I listen to audiobooks during the longish drives that I make on a regular basis and I can’t turn them on until I’m on the interstate where not as much attention is required. Even then, I can only seem to handle fiction and biographies. All other nonfiction… yeah, I constantly need to rewind. So I save nonfiction for text reading
I consume audio books the same as books so without any distraction. Mostly to be able to fall asleep since I suffer from tinnitus.
People who have disabilities who make it impossible or extremely difficult to read long things have a different brain.
So. Ok? Thanks for making me feel different I guess?
