This Happens In The Brain While Reading

Some say that reading transports you to other worlds while allowing you to take on new roles. In addition, we know today that there are many processes going on in the brain when you read that have to do with this. We look at what happens in the brain during reading.

As you read, your brain becomes filled with stimuli, and this activity provides a lot of benefits, both in the long and short term. For example, it reduces stress, improves sleep quality, increases your vocabulary and memory, and it even leads to higher intelligence. But  very few people know exactly what happens in the brain while reading.

In general, reading is a decoding process that ends up making sense. And from the perspective of research, it is interesting to know all the small processes that take place at the same time. It can help researchers know all the small steps, and help people with learning disabilities.

Until recently, it has been very difficult to figure out what processes took place in the brain when a person read. Now, neuroscience has made it possible to read brain activity while performing a task.

All thanks to magnetic resonance imaging scans and other techniques. Globally, neuroscience also has an interest in knowing the relationship between reading and thinking, emotions, learning, and cognitive performance.

The brain while reading – from words to meaning

It only takes the brain 400 milliseconds to activate the posterior, left area when it encounters a printed word. It is in these areas that spelling and phonological coding are handled. If you already know the word, then the morphological, syntactic and semantic recognition takes place instantly.

Morphological recognition is the most basic process. Thanks to the frontal, left areas of the brain, through this process you can recognize the letters that make up the word and read it. In the same way when it comes to syntactic recognition.

You can decode whether it is a noun or a verb and whether it is about past, present or future. Your brain thus creates a connection between the words so that it can recognize them later.

These processes take place in different areas of the brain, simultaneously and interconnected. With the process described in mind, the visual cortex becomes activated when you see a word. From here, signals are forwarded through the angular channels.

At this point, it becomes a phonetic representation, which is sent to the fusiform gyrus. It then moves to the temporal and frontal areas, such as Wernicke’s territory, so that the meaning and understanding of the word can be accessed in the future.

It is now that you find meaningful information and a morphological identification occurs in the lower anterior gyrus.

Text comprehension

Once you have understood the words you are reading, the time has come to analyze their mutual semantic and syntactic relationships. It can be the order of the words, time inflections, predicates, information about the basics, etc.

This syntactic processing appears to take place in the left temporal lobes. Then it moves to the lower, left areas, to thematic and more syntactic processing. Here it is more about the relationship between the basic clause and the verb clause. In addition, an assessment is made of the semantic meaning of the whole sentence.

At the same time, they start mechanisms that detect discrepancies or new measures that have to do with the lower frontal cortex. Here there is a greater activity in the area when you read incoherent words than if you read something meaningful.

Understanding what is read is also related to memory. To find broader meanings, you must have your own experiences in the process. For example, there are certain temporal areas in the brain that are only active when you read something about people and tools.

In this regard, a team of researchers from South Carolina and California concluded that words connect with the real world. It was in a study of functional magnetic resonance.

That is, areas were activated, just as if they were experiencing them. An example is that words with a meaning related to something malleable led to activity in areas that have to do with planning and execution, or that involved the motor areas.

Emotional and cognitive processing as you read

Emotions are the result of a process in the brain, primarily in the limbic system. This is where we find the hypothalamus. This area of ​​the brain is very conducive to memory and learning. Therefore, emotions are a very basic process when new information needs to be consolidated.

In addition, emotions during reading activate networks in the brain that have to do with attention. In fact, there are special mechanisms for different emotional concepts.

The researchers noted that when you read emotionally charged words, whether they were erotic or rude, the time the person spent on them increased, compared to neutral words. Therefore, stories that stimulate the emotions are also very beneficial for the networks that motivate and strengthen the attention.

In this way, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior dorsal cingulate cortex are activated in the brain during reading. In other words, you can begin the processes of mindfulness, planning, associating, and monitoring information.

Finally, the prefrontal cortex is activated to gather all the information. At the same time, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) remains attentive and focused on what you are reading on the more literal level.

The brain while reading

The stimulation that takes place in the brain during reading is very high. This is because it activates many areas at the same time. This is a long-term benefit that improves brain connections, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

In addition, neuroscience has proven that reading allows you to experience multiple situations (at least in the mind), and trains your processing of emotions so that you also become emotionally smarter.