Table of contents:
- Differences in brain activity in people who like to read
- Classic literature and Harry Potter
- People who don't like to read are at risk for brain disease
90 percent of Indonesians don't like to read books. Shocking?
Reading books is not yet a lifestyle practiced by most Indonesians. At the same time, television is easier for all people to accept and reach, grab everyone's attention, without controls and filters. Books also look even more unattractive and are displaced by the lively entertainment on the screen.
In fact, it is not new news anymore that reading has many benefits. What you may not know is that the role of books goes much deeper than just enriching new information and knowledge.
Science proves, reading increases brain activity and analytical skills that reflect how a person behaves and manages his emotions
Differences in brain activity in people who like to read
A 2013 study at Emory University compared brain scans between people who like to read and those who don't, having previously asked each participant to read a classic literature. There are significant differences between the two images. Participants who enjoyed reading showed more intense brain activity in certain areas of their brains.
In particular, researchers found an increased association in the left temporal cortex, the part of the brain normally associated with understanding language. The researchers also found increased connectivity to the central sulcus of the brain, the primary sensory area that helps the brain visualize movement. Imagine you are diving in the open blue sea, accompanied by colorful fish and covered by a stretch of beautiful coral reefs that stand firm. The sensation you feel (and think) like you are actually diving, right? The same process occurs when you imagine yourself as a character in a book: you can empathize with the emotions they feel.
This is proven more deeply in a study by Matthijs Bal and Martijn Verltkamp, still in the same year. The two of them investigate emotional transportation, which can show how a person can be very sensitive to other people's feelings. Bal and Verltkamp assessed the emotion carried by asking participants to share the stories they read to what extent affected them emotionally on a five-point scale. For example, how do they feel when the main character achieves a certain success, and how they feel sorry or sad for the character.
In the study, empathy was only seen in the group of people who read fiction and who were carried away by the storyline emotionally. Meanwhile, the group of participants who did not like reading showed a decrease in empathy.
Classic literature and Harry Potter
Especially in classical literature readers, their brains show a higher level of empathy when compared to readers of modern literature.
Classical literature requires readers to deeply dissect each character, because classical writers mix characters with determinants that are more complex, humane, ambiguous, and more difficult to understand. The process of understanding the characters, the emotions they carry, and the motives behind their actions are the same in human relationships with one another in the real world.
The innate emotional principles discovered by Bal and Verltkamp were also further investigated in a study chaired by Loris Vezalli in 2014. He and other researchers found that fans of the Harry Potter series tend to be the wiser and more tolerant of life, according to a study that published in The Journal of Applied Social Psychology (2014).
After conducting three different studies in different groups of participants, the researcher can conclude that JK Rowling's books have succeeded in sharpening the reader's ability to have a broader perspective on cases of immigrants and marginalized groups, including deeper understanding and empathy. against LGBT groups and acts of hatred (bigot) in the real world that are published in the media mainstream.
In short, readers of fiction literature are the best people to be friends with, as they tend to be more sensitive and can engage with other people's emotions.
People who don't like to read are at risk for brain disease
This is one of the benefits of books that are often overlooked by those who refuse to read books.
Reading can provide calm and lower blood pressure; presents an alternative imaginary world as a temporary escape from real-world problems. Therefore, reading books can prevent a person from experiencing stress and depression.
In addition, reading is tantamount to training a person's concentration and focus skills so that it can make it easier for them to multitask and sharpen their brain power in their memory and analysis abilities. Therefore, people who read a lot are known to have a much lower risk of various brain diseases, such as dementia and Alzheimer's.
