Our brains work out when we read

Reading increases your empathy and teleports you into bizarre experiences.

Have you ever wanted to try a workout regimen that can help you improve empathy, be ready for new situations, and feel mentally energized?

A quick and easy way to start is by picking up a book, a local daily in Singapore reports.”Reading is an excellent way to build an understanding of the world and how it works and to form expectations of people, places and things,” said Associate Professor Leher Singh from the National University of Singapore’s psychology department.

In psychology, this is called a schema – a way of organizing the world inside your head, according to the patterns you have learnt in your everyday life.Reading could actually teleport you into an unfamiliar experience.

Associate Professor Annabel Chen, deputy director of Nanyang Technological University’s Centre for Research and Development in Learning in Singapore, pointed to recent neuroscience discoveries about how the brain responds to reading.

Researchers have found that reading novels brought up activity not only in the parts of the brain previously associated with story comprehension and language receptivity, but in the somatosensory cortex and motor regions as well.

“It is likely that the novel transported the reader into the body of the protagonist, thus tricking the mind into thinking it is doing something it is not, a phenomenon also known as embodied cognition,” said Chen, who is a clinical neuropsychologist by training.

“A good example of embodied cognition is visualization in sports, like thinking about playing tennis can activate neurons associated with the physical act of serving or hitting the ball. Thus, the increased connectivity in these regions suggests the ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.”

Dr. Tan WahPheow, manager of Temasek Polytechnic’s Centre for Applied Psychology in Singapore, said the act of reading is “akin to exercising your whole brain”.

Professor Chen explained the idea of the whole-brain workout: “Reading requires many higher-order cognitive functions, such as visual imagery, working memory and concentration to keep track of the plot and imagination of the scenarios described.”

However, those with a reading habit may wonder: Does it matter how often you read or whether you are curled up with Harry Potter or War And Peace?

Chen said: “The type of material one reads really depends on the goal of reading the material and the person’s level of suggestibility.”

She added: “Fiction can help activate different brain regions involved with imagery. It allows a short escape from daily hassles for psychological well-being.”

Dr. Tan said: “Maybe the question should be how engaged people should be when they are reading. Highly engaged people are said to be engaging in deep processing, where they read for meaning and context, and critique what they have read.”

He added: “More engaged reading leads to better understanding and learning. It also results in a higher level of brain activation.”

While fiction promotes empathy on the part of the reader, Dr. Tan said that educators recommend children to read non-fiction.

This is because non-fiction promotes learning across different subjects and teaches children different ways to approach a text – such as through inquiry-based thinking.

Psychologist Frances Yeo from Thomson Paediatric Centre said that reading across different genres exposes learners to a variety of writing styles.

“The student should receive direct instruction on how to analyze written text and learn how to write for different audiences,” she said. “I feel that many students lack this.”

But there is still a long way to go if Singaporeans are to reap the full brain benefits of reading.

The National Library Board’s 2016 National Reading Habits Study on Adults found that about 69 per cent of respondents had read at least one book in the past 12 months. The National Arts Council’s 2015 National Literary Reading and Writing Survey saw fewer than half of the respondents reading at least one “literary book” between March 2014 and March 2015.

Sujatha Nair, assistant director of the Ministry of Education-aided Dyslexia Association of Singapore Literacy Programme, said: “Whether you have the reading ability of a pre-emergent or an expert, you should always aim to read as much as possible. This is especially important for struggling readers who tend to be reluctant readers.”

She recommended starting with a daily target of half an hour and building it up to one to two hours a day dedicated to reading.

Dr. Tan said: “I advocate the reading of works that are engaging and which invoke deep processing, regardless of whether they are fictional or not.”

Given the social and cognitive benefits of reading, experts say parents and caregivers should have realistic expectations in training their children for literacy, providing support for children from a young age with reading sessions and a text-rich environment.

Singh, who specialises in infant language development, said: “When a child is not ready, early reading can backfire by inducing reading anxiety”. The child, under pressure to read, starts to dread the activity and associates it with negative emotions.

But by age six or seven, a child should be able to read independently. Singh said children should be given a supportive reading environment from an early age.

This includes encouraging them to read what interests them. “Some like to read about world wars and others about dinosaurs,” she said.

Yeo suggests starting children off on “sight words”, which are high-frequency words that language learners must be able to recognize as a whole, without having to break them down into letters or sounds.”Once a child is able to read some sight words, parents can teach them phonological skills to decode or break down unfamiliar words.”

But Sujatha Nair of the Dyslexia Association of Singapore said: “Some children may naturally incorporate concepts like the alphabetic principle through early exposure, but it should not be expected of all children. Those with learning disabilities will require direct and explicit instructions in reading.”

Gabrielle Lai, a lecturer in Temasek Polytechnic’s psychology studies programme, stated that caregivers should expose kids to reading from a young age to show that it is a pleasurable activity.She said: “Reading fluency is more than just skill and drill. In fact, adopting such an approach would be detrimental to the child’s interest in reading, which will then affect the development of reading and literacy proficiencies.”

And children will read regularly, Yeo pointed out, “only if they see their parents reading at home”.

Reading for pleasure can build skills beyond basic literacy.

Yeo said: “Reading together with your child gives you an opportunity to talk with him about emotions and taking the perspective of other people.” For example, children can identify with characters in books and learn how to deal with situations, such as confronting school bullies or visiting the doctor.

Khoo Sim Eng, head of the film studies minor at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said: “Regular reading improves vocabulary and grammar. This isn’t just about being able to show off big words. Having a wider vocabulary allows us to express ourselves more clearly and precisely.”

Elaine Lee, a lecturer in early childhood education at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said that one way to make reading appealing is to create stories together or “make games out of everyday activities.”Another form of literary exercise would be shopping at the supermarket, where children can help their parents decode printed material from grocery labels, she added.

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