Advertisement
5:55
How reading changes the way your brain works - BBC World Service
BBC World Service
·
May 10, 2026
Open on YouTube
Transcript
0:00
Clicking on this video
activated circuits in your brain
0:03
that took thousands of years to develop
the ones required for reading.
0:08
We think of language as natural
and reading is written language,
0:14
so it must be natural. But it isn't.
0:17
It isn't natural at all.
0:19
Scientific studies indicate
that a neurotypical brain is born
0:23
with the circuitry that allows
our eyes to see
0:25
and our vocal cords
to produce sounds,
Advertisement
0:28
but it doesn't innately have
the ability to read.
0:31
From an evolutionary time scale,
our brain hasn't had enough time
0:34
to develop a dedicated reading brain.
0:38
And so to build
a reading brain network,
0:40
we co-opt parts of the brain involved
in vision and auditory processing,
0:46
and language
and attention and affect.
0:49
The Sumerian cuneiform symbols
are thought to be one
0:52
of the earliest writing systems
in the world,
0:55
dating back to around 3300 BC.
0:58
Around the same time, though, Egyptians
started developing their hieroglyphics.
Advertisement
1:04
Symbols evolved over time.
1:07
The more we read and wrote,
the more sophisticated
1:09
they became becoming the letters
and characters we recognise today.
1:14
Scientists now know
that reading activates the brain
1:18
so that letters and words become
associated with sounds and meanings.
1:23
Reading is really
a whole brain process.
1:26
It involves activation
and all four lobes of the cortex.
1:32
The process of developing
a reading brain alters everything
1:36
from brain activity to brain
structure and brain connectivity.
1:43
And the language we read
also shapes our brain.
1:47
Chinese characters, for instance, are
an example of the logographic system.
1:52
Each object or idea is represented by
a symbol rather than
1:55
by a set of letters of the alphabet.
1:57
Research indicates that learning
logographic writing systems activates
different areas of the brain
2:04
than learning an alphabet-based
language like English.
2:07
The areas involved in visual memory and
visual association do more of the work.
2:12
This theory was corroborated
after scientists studied
2:15
a bilingual patient
who knew both Chinese and English.
2:19
The man suffered a massive stroke,
which affected some areas of his brain,
2:23
including his ability
to read Chinese,
2:26
but astonishingly, his proficiency
in English remained intact.
2:31
It's a beautiful
2:32
example of how the brain circuit
reflects the requirements of Chinese,
2:40
which inevitably means more
visual memory and visual processing
2:46
of those beautifully intricate
symbols or characters.
2:52
Whatever the language,
reading not only impacts the brain,
2:56
but it also affects us
on a physical level.
2:59
We might feel in our guts the
nervousness or the pain of a character.
3:05
And I mean that not only like I feel it
inside me, but I mean that literally.
3:10
Like the anterior insula, which is
responsible for gastromotoric
3:17
movement for feelings
of nausea and pain and discomfort
3:21
is also the part of the brain
that's associated with
3:25
many of the empathic processes.
3:28
And the brain is very adaptable.
3:31
Evidence suggests
that it's already changing
as a result of new technologies.
3:35
Reading on a phone or tablet
is generally passive scrolling,
3:39
often interrupted by messages
and alerts.
3:43
When we read on screens,
we tend to skim,
3:45
and when we skim, we're more
susceptible to misinformation.
3:49
We need to support individuals
3:51
in being able to think critically
about the things that they're reading,
3:54
because that's fundamental to
a democracy is our ability to analyse
3:59
and think deeply about the information
that's that we're consuming.
4:04
Some academic research even suggests
that children who use cell phones
4:08
from an early age perform worse
in school later in life.
4:12
At eight years of age, the amount
of digital exposure predicted
4:17
their attentional executive function
processing and academic performance.
4:23
And it's a negative.
The more digital, the worse academic.
4:28
If you can imagine if that brain
is constantly being distracted
4:33
and hyper stimulated,
you're going to have them not able
4:37
to really move from one stimulus
to the next
4:44
without a desire for ever quicker
intervals between stimuli.
4:49
So then you have kids going offline
and saying they're bored.
4:54
It's a relatively new field
of research,
4:56
and some studies suggest
that monitored
4:58
and education-focused screen time
can be beneficial to children.
5:02
For parents concerned
about navigating the digital world,
5:05
the advice is to go back to basics.
5:07
The antidote to all that's happening
is the simplest, most beautiful one,
5:13
and that is to have
our children immersed
5:15
in reading and have a reading life.
5:18
Our parents
and teachers all have to help,
5:21
you know, they have to model,
they have to read to their child.
5:25
They have to love it themselves.
5:28
And this is likely to have benefits
beyond the individual reader.
5:32
The power of deep reading is
really fundamental to our humanity.
5:37
When we read deeply, we change
our brains and we change who we are.
5:42
And that process of changing
the minds and hearts of individuals
5:46
changes society and allows us to
build bigger, more beautiful futures.
— end of transcript —
Advertisement
