How Reading Fiction Affects Your Brain
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the cognitive and emotional benefits of reading fiction, debunking the myth that it's less beneficial than non-fiction. It highlights how fiction enhances language processing and vocabulary, stimulates different brain areas during storytelling, and improves social cognition and empathy. The script also discusses the role of fiction in stress reduction and personal growth, advocating for the value of both fiction and non-fiction in enriching our minds.
Takeaways
- 📚 Reading fiction has neurological and psychological benefits, contrary to the belief that it's less beneficial than non-fiction.
- 📈 Fiction reading can enhance language processing and vocabulary more than non-fiction, due to the wider range of words used in storytelling.
- 🧠 Different types of reading activate various parts of the brain, with fiction stimulating areas related to the content of the story.
- 👥 Fiction reading improves social cognitive performance, potentially increasing empathy and understanding of others' perspectives.
- 💖 Research consistently shows that fiction can boost empathy, helping readers to connect with characters and situations on a deeper level.
- 🎨 Like other forms of art, fiction can have a profound impact on an individual's personality and emotional experiences.
- 📉 Reading, including fiction, has been found to reduce stress more effectively and quickly than other common relaxation methods.
- ⏱️ The stress-reducing effects of reading can be felt within just six minutes of starting a story.
- 🤔 The video emphasizes that both fiction and non-fiction have unique benefits, and the choice between them should be based on personal preference and interest.
- 🧐 The speaker shares a personal experience of how a Stephen King novel helped process grief, illustrating the power of fiction in emotional healing.
- 🌐 The video encourages viewers to explore the benefits of both fiction and non-fiction, suggesting that a balanced reading habit can be enriching.
Q & A
What is the main argument of the video regarding fiction reading?
-The main argument of the video is that fiction reading has significant neurological, psychological, and social benefits, and it is as beneficial to the mind as non-fiction reading.
How does reading fiction affect language processing and vocabulary according to the video?
-Reading fiction affects language processing and vocabulary positively, with studies showing that fiction readers have a larger vocabulary than non-fiction readers due to the wider range of words used in fiction.
What is the neurological difference when reading a story versus reading informational text?
-When reading a story, not only does the language processing part of the brain light up, but also the parts of the brain associated with the experiences described in the story, whereas informational text mainly activates the language processing area.
What social benefits does the video claim are associated with reading fiction?
-The video claims that reading fiction has social benefits such as improved social cognitive performance, increased empathy, and the ability to better understand others' perspectives.
How does reading fiction impact a person's empathy according to the research mentioned in the video?
-Research mentioned in the video indicates that reading fiction increases empathy by allowing readers to put themselves in someone else's shoes and understand different perspectives, reducing prejudice and promoting kindness.
What is the role of art, according to the video, in shaping one's personality traits?
-According to the video, art, including literature, can cause significant changes in one's experiences and personality traits, affecting individuals on a deep emotional level.
How effective is reading at reducing stress, as discussed in the video?
-Reading is discussed as an effective stress reducer, with research showing that it reduces stress more quickly than other common methods, such as walking or listening to music.
What does the video suggest about the comparison between fiction and non-fiction reading?
-The video suggests that both fiction and non-fiction reading are beneficial, and it does not argue that one is better than the other. It emphasizes the unique benefits of fiction reading that are often overlooked.
How does the video presenter use personal experience to illustrate the benefits of reading fiction?
-The presenter shares a personal experience of processing grief through reading both non-fiction and Stephen King's 'Pet Sematary,' highlighting how fiction can help in understanding and coping with emotions.
What is the presenter's view on the importance of enjoying the reading process itself, regardless of the genre?
-The presenter believes that the act of reading and enjoying it, whether fiction or non-fiction, has psychological and neurological benefits, emphasizing the importance of engaging in hobbies that rest the mind and body.
What additional resources does the video offer to viewers interested in the research discussed?
-The video offers additional resources such as links to the research studies discussed, which are provided in the video description for viewers to explore further.
Outlines
📚 The Neurological Benefits of Fiction Reading
This paragraph discusses the often overlooked benefits of reading fiction on the brain. It challenges the notion that fiction is less beneficial than non-fiction by citing studies that show fiction reading enhances language processing and vocabulary more than non-fiction. The speaker emphasizes the neurological effects of reading, such as how different parts of the brain light up when engaging with a story versus reading purely informational content. The paragraph also introduces the theme of the video, which is to explore the specific advantages fiction offers to the mind, including social and emotional benefits.
🌐 Empathy and Social Cognition Through Fiction
The second paragraph delves into the social benefits of reading fiction, particularly its impact on empathy and social cognition. It references multiple studies that demonstrate how fiction readers tend to outperform non-fiction readers in social cognitive tasks. The speaker explains that reading fiction can increase our ability to empathize with others, understand different perspectives, and reduce subconscious prejudice. The paragraph also touches on the transformative power of art in general, including music and literature, and how it can deeply affect our personalities and emotional experiences.
😌 Stress Relief and Personal Growth Through Fiction
In this paragraph, the speaker discusses the role of fiction in stress reduction and personal growth. Research is cited to show that reading, especially fiction, can reduce stress more effectively and quickly than common relaxation methods. The speaker shares a personal experience of how a Stephen King novel helped them process grief, illustrating the profound emotional impact that fiction can have. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of enjoying both fiction and non-fiction for their respective benefits, and the value of using literature to navigate personal challenges.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fiction
💡Non-fiction
💡Neurological benefits
💡Vocabulary
💡Language processing
💡Social cognitive performance
💡Empathy
💡Stress reduction
💡Personality traits
💡Grief
Highlights
Reading fiction can increase vocabulary more effectively than nonfiction, due to the wide range of descriptive language used in fiction.
Reading fiction activates multiple parts of the brain, including those associated with physical experiences described in the story, unlike nonfiction which mainly activates language processing areas.
Fiction reading has been shown to improve social cognitive performance and empathy, helping readers better understand and relate to others.
Studies suggest that fiction readers outperform nonfiction readers on social cognitive tasks, highlighting the unique benefits of engaging with fictional narratives.
Art, including books, can significantly influence a person's personality and emotional state, similar to how music and visual arts impact us.
Fiction reading is more effective at reducing stress compared to common methods like walking, listening to music, or drinking tea.
While both fiction and nonfiction provide educational benefits, fiction is often undervalued despite its significant contribution to cognitive and emotional development.
Fiction can serve as a powerful tool for processing complex emotions and experiences, as seen in the author's personal experience with grief through reading 'Pet Cemetery' by Stephen King.
The video emphasizes that the debate over whether fiction or nonfiction is 'better' is irrelevant; both have unique and valuable benefits.
Engaging in any activity that one enjoys, whether it's reading fiction, playing video games, or other hobbies, provides psychological and neurological benefits.
Reading, whether fiction or nonfiction, has neurological benefits that can improve language processing and cognitive function.
Fiction helps readers develop a deeper understanding of complex emotions and situations by immersing them in diverse perspectives.
The video argues for the validation of fiction as a valuable reading choice, especially for those who may feel it’s not as beneficial as nonfiction.
Research consistently shows that fiction enhances empathy, making readers more compassionate and less prone to subconscious prejudice.
The author concludes by emphasizing that enjoying a hobby, including reading fiction, has intrinsic value for mental well-being.
Transcripts
oh is that your reading there oh
fiction
what's that
yeah i don't really read fiction if i'm
going to take the time to read i want to
really learn something something that'll
benefit my mind
do i know you entertainment
has this ever happened to you
well
me too i did a previous video where i
talked about how reading affects the
brain some of the studies that have
actually dug deep into
the neurological and psychological
benefits of reading books i really
really loved that video if you haven't
watched it if you haven't watched it yet
i'll link it here if i remember and
definitely in the description so you can
check it out this video is going to
piggyback off of that one and this one
is a specific emphasis on how
fiction reading affects the brain it is
funny to me that a lot of people
discount reading as a whole but then you
also have a lot of people who will
discount fiction specifically nonfiction
is beneficial fiction is not so
i fell down a rabbit hole i did a whole
bunch of research i read a bunch of
studies to learn if fiction is really
truly as beneficial to the mind as
non-fiction is and the answer is yes and
in fact there are some ways that fiction
benefits the brain and our social and
emotional benefits even more this isn't
a video of me arguing that fiction is
better than non-fiction frankly i don't
care which one's better this is just me
talking about the merits of fiction in
case you need a little bit of validation
in your life i'm gonna be citing a lot
of studies throughout this video and
just like in the last video which again
i recommend you watch if you haven't yet
it'll all be linked all the resources
will be linked in the description for
you to look into further but i'll also
have some of the things oh this is i'll
also have some of the things on the
screen for you to see as i'm citing them
the first way that reading fiction
specifically affects our brain in a
really positive way is language
processing and vocabulary now both of
these things were covered in the last
video because both of these things are
benefited through both non-fiction and
fiction reading however this study that
had more than a quarter of a million
respondents showed a very clear line
between fiction and non-fiction readers
it showed that reading fiction actually
increases vocabulary more than
non-fiction which kind of makes sense if
you think about it because fiction is
going to use a much wider range of words
to describe landscapes and to describe
emotions and describe a lot of things
that you're trying that that the author
is trying to have you experience with
the reader then a non-fiction would
which is purely informational it also
shows that the amount you read actually
makes a significant
difference readers who claim to read
somewhat versus readers who claim to
read a lot and they and they studied
readers on on a lot of different scales
of how much they read and it showed that
how much they bumped up the amount of
time dedicated to reading showed a
significant change in this category i
believe i talked in the last video about
how reading lights up language
processing in the brain but what's
really interesting is the different
types of reading and how that lights up
different parts of the brain so for
instance i could put a word on the
screen and you may be able to instantly
smell that word which i think we've all
experienced and i think it's really
interesting but what's also interesting
is that when we're getting information a
certain part of our brain the language
processing part of our brain lights up
but that's the only part that lights up
whereas if we're hearing or reading a
story then not only does the language
processing part of our brain light up
but also whatever part of the brain
whatever
whatever the story is saying that part
of the brain will light up too let me
explain there's a study that
specifically talked about running so if
you read information about running about
the benefits it gives you about what's
happening to the body just bullet points
informational about running the language
processing part of your brain is working
but if you read a story about someone
running then the part of your brain that
lights up when you are physically
running also lights up when you're
reading about a person running that's so
fascinating to me obviously i'm gonna
get a lot more health benefits out of
physically running than reading about a
person physically running but as far as
the neurological benefits our brains
light up the same whether we're running
or reading a story about a person
running which leads me into the next
thing that i want to talk about about
how fiction benefits the brain there are
many studies out there and i'll put
several on the screen here that talk
specifically about the social benefits
of reading fiction specifically compared
to not reading anything at all or
compared to reading non-fiction fiction
has a small yet statistically
significant increase in social cognitive
performance another study that showed
that fiction readers outperform
non-fiction readers on social cognitive
tasks and another study that shows that
fiction reading outperforms nonfiction
reading for benefiting social cognitive
measures what does that mean well it
means a lot of things but a lot of it
boils down to
empathy again there are a lot of studies
on this but time and time again research
has shown that reading increases empathy
in people increases our ability to put
ourselves in someone else's shoes to not
be so narrow-minded and to be able to
actually see the world from another
person's eyes or at least empathize with
their position in life this can help us
to be more compassionate more
understanding to reduce subconscious
prejudice to be a more kind person in
general i love this quote one glance
inside a book and you're inside the mind
of another person maybe someone dead for
thousands of years across the millennia
an author is speaking clearly and
silently inside your head directly to
you there have also been studies focused
on art that say that art can cause
significant changes in the experiences
and the experience of one's own
personality traits this doesn't surprise
me at all and i think that most of us
could probably say that yes we have seen
a piece of art at least one piece of art
in our lifetime that has affected us on
a deeper level sometimes in a way that
we can't even really describe in words
it's just something that speaks to us
same with music there are certain songs
that seem to get inside our very being
certain songs that have a physical and
emotional reaction to us and sometimes
that we feel understood by movies shows
dance there's so many different forms of
art that create an emotional and
physical reaction in us and that also
shape who we are and who we become this
includes books and from experience i can
say i have definitely been shaped by
many fiction books as well as nonfiction
and finally the last way that i want to
talk about in this video that fiction
reading affects the mind the person is
in stress reduction research has shown
that reading reduces stress better and
more quickly than common other methods
used like going for a walk listening to
music
drinking tea or coffee and that reading
starts reducing stress as quickly as six
minutes inside a story now while in this
video i talked a lot about ways in which
fiction affects the mind or the
subconscious or the emotional benefits
more than non-fiction every single one
of these things are benefited through
non-fiction too you get benefits no
matter which method you choose to read
and this video was focused on specific
benefits for fiction
reading but there are loads of other
things that i could talk about where
non-fiction gets more benefits than
fiction so is one actually better than
the other again
i don't care i'm really not trying to
debate that one is better than the other
i use and enjoy
both but fiction is discounted much
faster than non-fiction very often in
life so i wanted to dig into some of the
benefits that fiction specifically
provides us as i said in the previous
video there are psychological
neurological emotional benefits to just
doing something that you enjoy it
doesn't matter if it actually affects
the brain in some great way just
chilling out with a book with a video
game with a movie with your knitting or
your model airplanes i don't care what
your hobby is just
resting your mind and your body has so
many benefits
in and of itself
but
reading fiction also has a lot of
educational and developmental benefits
as well just like non-fiction does again
this video isn't about saying one is
better than the other it's about showing
that both are very beneficial not just
the one that people tend to think is
beneficial personally when i'm wanting
to learn more about a particular topic i
like to pick a non-fiction and a fiction
to help me process what i'm trying to
work through or get better at for
instance i'm very close with my
grandparents and when my grandpa died it
was really really hard on me and i was
trying to figure out how to process my
grief i picked up several non-fictions
and several fictions with a particular
emphasis on grief and while i learned so
much about
healthy coping mechanisms healthy
processing and
just validating that
grief isn't something that you kind of
get over or that goes away it's kind of
always there
it's just that over time
it gets a little bit easier i learned a
lot about grief through the nonfictions
but easily the book that helped me to
process my grief the most and feel like
i was beginning to take steps forward
out of being covered by it was pet
cemetery by stephen king which is a
horror book but it's a book that uses
horror as a tool in order to deeply
explore
grief and when i
loved this book and talked about it a
lot people started reading it because of
me and i got a lot of feedback of people
being disappointed by the book because
it really wasn't that scary and on
reflection yeah it really wasn't that
scary but i don't care because it it
used that horror as a tool
to dissect
grief and its different layers and
levels and i gained so much from that
discussion that happened in that book
and i could point you to so many
non-fiction books where i've gained so
much as well as so many fiction books
where i have gained so much i don't
discuss all the nonfiction that i read
on this channel because a lot of times
what i'm reading is very personal stuff
that i'm trying to work through stuff
that i'm trying to learn more about for
myself so
you know it's for me i don't always
bring it
here but i do some of them and i really
think that there are great benefits that
i get from both fiction and in
non-fiction anyway that's the whole
video i'm a nerd and i really like
looking into this stuff i really love
these research informational based
videos i think they're so much fun i
hope you got something out of it too if
you were looking for some validation for
this hobby that you love i hope you got
some but be sure to chat with me more
about it in the comments again all the
research is also in the description i
post videos every tuesday through friday
i'll see you again soon bye same with
music there are certain songs that seem
to get inside our very being certain
songs that have a physical and emotional
reaction to us and sometimes that we
feel understood by
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
تصفح المزيد من مقاطع الفيديو ذات الصلة
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)