This online article summarizes two studies that looked at the impact on your brain of reading or watching TV.
- One study that found that reading a novel produced positive neural changes in the brain: “Studying fMRIs of college students who were given Robert Harris’ Pompeii to read, researchers found heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortexes (associated with language receptivity) after reading that lasted five days after completing the book….Heightened connectivity was also seen in the central sulcus of the brain, the primary sensory motor region of the brain.”
- Meanwhile, a second study correlated children’s IQ with the hours they spent watching TV. The results are both sad and unsurprising. The researchers “studied 276 children aged 5 -18 who watched between zero and four hours of TV daily. They found those who watched more TV experienced greater alterations to their brain structure and exhibited a lower IQ over time.”
Hence, the only TV we have in our house is downstairs in the basement. (Full disclosure: I’ve always been an anti-TV snob.) Currently I’m reading Moby Dick, the edition with fantastic pen-and-ink drawings by Rockwell Kent. I’ve read about 550 pages so far (total about 800).
