A recent study by psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis seems to indicate that in some people, reading about an action stimulates the section of the brain that actually performs that action. In other words, if you read about throwing a kick, the part of your brain that would actually perform that move experiences stimulation, as though you were actually throwing the kick yourself.
The researchers do go on to say, however, that not every reader visualizes the written word in the same way, and that the writing style has an effect on how a story’s actions are perceived. More direct verbiage seems to work better than more stylized prose does, for example.
This effect is likely what’s behind the thinking of sports coaches when they urge their athletes to think about the actions they perform even if they’re not actually doing them. The mental link between action and thought is strengthened by this behavior, which tends to lead to a greater level of proficiency when performing the actual action when required.
This means to me that it’s more important than we might have thought to carefully select the kinds of things our children read. Obviously, we want to keep them away in earlier ages from books which feature violent content, but there is a wide range of this sort of thing for them to consume as they get older. A judicious appraisal over time is wise, especially if your child loves to read. We can get them thinking about the kinds of activities we’d like them to attempt as they age, like dancing, swimming, or the martial arts. Reading is fundamental; more so than we’d ever understood.
