Can great novels change your life?

For decades older generations have been despairing at the passivity of the television generation, absorbing poisonous morals and unhealthy opinions from spending hours in front of Dawson's Creek. Well now researchers from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia have published a study in the journal, Brain Connectivity, that claims some books may be so affecting that they actually change the way our brains work.

Author and neuroscientist, Gregory Berns, who heads up the study has said, “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.”

21 Emory undergraduate guinea pigs were asked to read Pompeii by bestselling novelist, Robert Harris. Over a nine-day period, the undergraduates read 9 thirty-page segments of the novel. After each set of 30 pages the undergraduates were tested on the material to make sure they'd read it fully and then given an MRI scan.

What they found, perhaps less surprisingly, was that the left temporal cortex of each of their brains seemed to show "heightened connectivity". This part of the brain is associated with "receptivity for language" but also the part that links thoughts to actions.

While this area of the brain was likely to be triggered during reading, what was interesting was that the brains continued to be stimulated in this way days afterwards.

Professor Berns acknowledges that there is not yet a conclusive answer to this question - can great novels change your life... but he says 'we're detecting [these stimulations] over a few days for a randomly assigned novel suggests that favourite novels could certainly have a bigger and longer-lasting effect on the biology of your brain."

All I can say is that explains a few things... making things happen. Things I couldn't explain when I was angry, or scared... although I never did get my letter. Still waiting.

P.s. My apologies if you've lost me and think I've suddenly gone completely mental. You're obviously just not cool enough.