Researchers at Liverpool University have revealed that the benefits of reading can far exceed simply broadening one’s vocabulary.
Reportedly, reading works by writers such as William Shakespeare, T.S Eliot, William Wordsworth, Henry Vaughan, John Donne, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Philip Larkin, and Ted Hughes, results in greater electrical activity in the brain than more ‘pedestrian’ texts.
The team of scientists, psychologists, and English scholars at the university monitored brain activity in 30 participants while the volunteers read extracts from prose and poetry by the well-know authors above, then read simplified versions of the same literature.
Challenging sentences and unexpected or unfamiliar words led to heightened activity in the brain’s right hemisphere – where people’s autobiographical memory is found – which was not the case when they were reading easier adaptations.
An English professor involved in the study stated, “Serious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain.
“The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the staid alike.”
Apparently, the team intend to study whether reading classics could have therapeutic benefits – since they believe their research already shows they have a more positive effect on the brain than self-help books.
Potentially, in the future, people who have suffered brain injuries might be advised to read classics as a way of regaining more of their brain function while also undergoing other rehabilitative treatments.
