Readers build vivid mental simulations of narrative situations,
brain scans suggest Brain processes stories as though they were
real-life situation By Gerry Everding Jan. 26, 2009 -- A new
brain-imaging study is shedding light on what it means to "get
lost" in a good book — suggesting that readers create vivid
mental simulations of the sounds, sights, tastes and movements
described in a textual narrative while simultaneously activating
brain regions used to process similar experiences in real life.
"Psychologists and neuroscientists are increasingly coming to
the conclusion that when we read a story and really understand
it, we create a mental simulation of the events described by the
story," says Jeffrey M. Zacks, study co-author and director of
the Dynamic Cognition Laboratory at Washington University in St.
Louis. |Click the brain scans above to view a color-coded chart
describing changes in brain activation during the reading of a
brief narrative.| Nicole Speer, lead author of this study, says
findings de