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"It’s official: Fiction makes you smarter." —Lenard-Cook
It’s official: Fiction makes you smarter. Numerous researchers have been studying the effects of fiction on the brain, with results that won’t surprise those who’ve been faithfully following their fictional exercise routines.
For starters, unlike the far more passive act of watching a film, reading requires us to engage our imaginations as we translate the words on the page into pictures in our heads. Reading thus is an act of active participation, in which the brain uses what it already knows to create new worlds.
". . . when something unexpected happens in a narrative (or in life), our brain muscles lift and stretch." —Lenard-Cook
Another way our brains work out is their continual effort to create order out of chaos. This is why, when something unexpected happens in a narrative (or in life), our brain muscles lift and stretch to make it fit into some logical scheme. Sometimes (such as when we’re reading a good mystery), these cognitive leaps prove incorrect, but the exercise routine nonetheless makes us feel we’ve had a workout.
Reading also requires empathy, encouraging us not only to learn about but to feel for those in worlds and circumstances far different from our own. According to neuroimaging studies conducted by University of Toronto Professor Keith Oatley, readers’ brains mirror characters’ emotions, a brain stimulation routine that results in both empathy with others and stronger social intelligence.
While deconstructionists have been touting the idea of readers creating texts for over thirty years, approaching this abstract theory concretely makes it both more intriguing and more accessible—as well as a good workout for the mind.
So, have you lifted any good books lately? Share your aerobic reading exercises at Authorlink’s Facebook page, and join the conversation.
PEN-short-listed author Lisa Lenard-Cook’s most recent book is The Mind of Your Story: Discover What Drives Your Fiction (Writer’s Digest), which originated in her columns for Authorlink. With Lynn C. Miller, she’s co-founder of ABQ Writers Co-op (abqwriterscoop.com), a creative community for New Mexico writers, and co-editor of the literary magazine Bosque. She’s on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference and the Board of Narrative Art Center in Santa Fe. Website: lisalenardcook.com
