{"id":20526,"date":"2013-01-14T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T14:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rt.com\/art-and-culture\/news\/classic-reading-brain-activity-964\/"},"modified":"2013-01-14T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T14:21:00","slug":"%c2%admind-games-reading-classics-stimulates-brain-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/%c2%admind-games-reading-classics-stimulates-brain-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00adMind games: Reading classics stimulates brain activity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Reading<\/p>\n

Reading classics stimulates brain activity (AFP Photo \/ John D Mchugh)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

British scientists have proved that reading Shakespeare and other classics can stimulate the mind and has a beneficial effect on brain activity.<\/p>\n

Scientists at Liverpool University have monitored the brain activity of a number of volunteers while they were reading works by William Shakespeare, T.S Eliot and others, The Daily Telegraph reports.<\/p>\n

Then the original texts were altered and \u201ctranslated\u201d to simpler modern language and given to the readers again.<\/p>\n

The data recorded during reading both versions of the text proved that the more \u201csophisticated\u201d the language in both prose and poetry the more electrical activity the reader\u2019s brain showed.<\/p>\n

Scientists tracked the brain activity caused by certain words and saw that unusual words and complicated sentence structures stimulated the brain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain. The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the staid alike,\u201d<\/em> The Daily Telegraph quotes Professor Philip Davis involved in the study as saying.<\/p>\n

According to the study poetry particularly stimulates activity in the right hemisphere of the brain responsible for self-reflection, creativity and imagination.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoetry is not just a matter of style. It is a matter of deep versions of experience that add the emotional and biographical to the cognitive,\u201d<\/em> Professor Davis said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Sophisticated and unusual words in the text also prompted better concentration of the reader after they\u2019ve come across these words.<\/p>\n

The researchers\u2019 conclusion that reading the classics is better and more useful for the mind than easy-reads might not be a surprise to many avid readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

\"Reading<\/p>\n

Reading classics stimulates brain activity (AFP Photo \/ John D Mchugh)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

British scientists have proved that reading Shakespeare and other classics can stimulate the mind and has a beneficial effect on brain activity.<\/p>\n

Scientists at Liverpool University have monitored the brain activity of a number of volunteers while they were reading works by William Shakespeare, T.S Eliot and others, The Daily Telegraph reports.<\/p>\n

Then the original texts were altered and “translated” to simpler modern language and given to the readers again.<\/p>\n

The data recorded during reading both versions of the text proved that the more “sophisticated” the language in both prose and poetry the more electrical activity the reader’s brain showed.<\/p>\n

Scientists tracked the brain activity caused by certain words and saw that unusual words and complicated sentence structures stimulated the brain.<\/p>\n

“Serious literature acts like a rocket-booster to the brain. The research shows the power of literature to shift mental pathways, to create new thoughts, shapes and connections in the young and the staid alike,”<\/em> The Daily Telegraph quotes Professor Philip Davis involved in the study as saying.<\/p>\n

According to the study poetry particularly stimulates activity in the right hemisphere of the brain responsible for self-reflection, creativity and imagination.<\/p>\n

“Poetry is not just a matter of style. It is a matter of deep versions of experience that add the emotional and biographical to the cognitive,”<\/em> Professor Davis said.  <\/p>\n

Sophisticated and unusual words in the text also prompted better concentration of the reader after they’ve come across these words.<\/p>\n

The researchers’ conclusion that reading the classics is better and more useful for the mind than easy-reads might not be a surprise to many avid readers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[487],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breaking-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}