How reading shapes your brain ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English. I'm Becca. And I'm Georgie. Remember, you can find

all this episode's vocabulary along with a transcript and worksheet on

our website, bbclearningenglish.com. Now, Becca, do you read a lot? Hmm, I don't read often. I just feel

like I don't have the time, Georgie. How about yourself? I would love to read more, but

I don't read very much at the moment. I read mostly before bed because I feel

like it helps me relax and go to sleep. And today we're talking all

about reading. We'll be hearing from some experts

about how reading can change our brains, and as usual we'll be learning

some useful new words and phrases. Let's start with a quiz question. The longest novel in the world

is widely thought to be by French author Marcel Proust,

a book which, when translated into English,

means Remembrance of Things Past. But how many words

does the book contain? Is it a) 130,000, b) 1.3 million,

or c) 13 million? OK. The longest novel in the world. I still think

13 million words sounds too many, so I'm going to go

with b) 1.3 million. Alright. We'll find out

at the end of the programme. Now, we might think of reading

as like speaking. We're born with the potential

to do it and then we learn. It's natural. If something is natural,

it's something you were born with or that comes from nature. But Maryanne Wolf,

author of the book Reader Come Home, says that this isn't true. We think of language as natural, and reading is written language

so it must be natural. But it isn't. It isn't natural at all. Scientific studies suggest that when

we're born, our brains already have the networks that allow our eyes to see

and our vocal cords to produce sounds, but not with the pathways

we need to read. Let's hear more from psychologist

and neuroscientist Rebecca Gotlieb, speaking to the BBC World Service. From an evolutionary timescale, our brain hasn't had enough time

to develop a dedicated reading brain. And so, to build

a reading brain network, we co-opt parts of the brain involved

in vision and auditory processing, and language,

and attention and affect. Reading is really

a whole brain process. It involves activation

in all four lobes of the cortex. The process of developing

a reading brain alters everything, from brain activity to brain

structure and brain connectivity. The power of deep reading is

really fundamental to our humanity. When we read deeply, we change

our brains and we change who we are. Rebecca says that

our brains haven't evolved to include a dedicated reading brain. 'Dedicated' here means designed

and used for one particular purpose. So, because we don't have a part of the

brain designed specifically for reading, when we learn to read,

we co-opt other parts of the brain. 'Co-opt' here means to include someone

or something, often against their will. Right. Learning to read means using

lots of different parts of the brain that are designed for other things,

and this changes our brain structure compared to someone

who hasn't learned to read. And the language we read

also shapes our brain. Chinese characters, for example, use symbols instead

of letters of the alphabet to represent words and ideas. Research suggests that learning

to read these symbols activates different areas of the brain

to reading an alphabet-based system. Scientists studied

a bilingual man who could read and speak Chinese and English. The man suffered a stroke,

which affected parts of his brain, including his ability

to read Chinese. But amazingly,

he was still able to read English. Maryanne Wolf explains more

to the BBC World Service. It's a beautiful example of how the brain's circuit reflects

the requirements of Chinese, which inevitably means more

visual memory and visual processing of those beautifully intricate

symbols or characters. Maryanne says that the brain's circuit

is shaped by learning to read Chinese. A circuit is a system of connections. The visual qualities

of Chinese symbols inevitably mean more visual areas

of the brain are developed. Inevitably means in a way

that cannot be stopped or avoided. Maryanne describes the symbolic Chinese

characters as beautifully intricate. If something is intricate,

it has lots of detail. And something which also has lots

of detail, or certainly lots of words –

I asked you, Georgie, how many words are in Marcel Proust's

Remembrance of Things Past. I said 1.3 million. And you were correct! Yay! The book also contains lots

of very long sentences, including one with over 900 words. One sentence with 900 words? That is a lot. OK. It's time to recap the language

we learned during this programme, starting with 'natural', which describes something you were

born with or that comes from nature. 'Dedicated' can describe something

that is designed and used for one particular purpose. If you co-opt someone or something, you involve them,

sometimes against their will. A circuit is a system of connections –

for example, in the brain. 'Inevitably' means in a way

that cannot be stopped or avoided. And 'intricate' describes something

which has lots of detail. That's it for this episode

of 6 Minute English. Test what you've learnt

with the worksheet on our website,

bbclearningenglish.com. Thanks for joining us. Goodbye! Bye.