A new study says that reading a novel may actually be able to change your brain.
Reasearchers at the Emory University found that there are biological traces related to the feeling that you get after you read a great book. According to Health24, changes in your brain after reading a novel can stick around for a few days.
This is because reading a book could cause changes in a person’s resting state connectivity to the brain. Lead author of the study, Gregory Berns, said that, “Stories shape our lives and in some cases help define a person. We want to understand how stories get into your brain, and what they do to it.”
The Washington Post reported that the study was over a course of 19 days and included 21 undergraduate students at Emory University. All of those involved in the study read the same book, Pompeii.
After all students completed the novel, each of them underwent an MRI of their brains in a resting state. All of the results showed a heightened connectivity to the area of the brain associated with language.
“We already knew that good stories can put you in someone else’s shoes in a figurative sense. Now we’re seeing that something may also be happening biologically,” Berns said. Picking up a good book can really change a person.