The human brain is regarded as an amazing and powerful tool. It helps us to learn, see, remember, hear, perceive, understand and create language. We cannot surely say, the human brain also fails us, sometimes.
Here we will be discussing what you learn from a brain scientist. So, we have many queries. And we shall discuss in detail each one of them.
When we are reading a book, a lot more complexes than we imagine occur in our brain. While reading a book, the brain should match letters to sound, D[d] + i[I] + g[g] is “dig [dIg].” We know that how a letter and a sound corresponds’ is not equal in reading a book. We have to understand the meaning of letter combinations. When we are reading the letters in the word “dig”, we must be able to complete the process by getting the meaning of the letters in the brain. While changing the letter to a sound system and processing the meaning of what we read, our brain forms a network among the brain areas and diligently processes information that has been consumed. This network must be running continuously when we read; if not, then the reading problem occurs.
The learning disorder dyslexia occurs when we cannot apply the sound-letter when we see a letter corresponding to it. There may be a problem in reading skills when the meanings of the words or any sentences are not properly processed in the brain.
While reading books, the sounds produced, which are audible to others, are called “reading aloud.” The importance of reading books aloud cannot be emphasized. According to the result of a study from a psychology department in Canada published in the journal “MEMORY” in 2018, reading books aloud helps to memorize words better. The people remember more words when they read aloud than the people see or hear the presented screen. But reading a book aloud is harder. Most of the children dislike this kind of reading aloud, and even the adults tire easily when reading a book aloud. In this case, reading the content aloud in your mind is similar to that of reading the content repeating rapidly. When the children are reading a book with their eyes, their level of comprehension can vary depending on their level of repeating the content or they are reading the content aloud
I think nowadays audiobooks are becoming more popular, am I right? When the audiobook’s content, which is auditory stimuli, enters the brain, first, the auditory cortex located near the ear responds. And by the printed content, which is visual stimuli, passes through your eyes, it passes the information through the optic nerve, and the letters are processed first in the visual cortex. Since the stimuli entering the brain are different, the area that responds first also differs. So, are the areas processing the meaning when listening to an audiobook and visually reading a book are completely different from each other? Although the brain area that responds first differs according to the stimuli. A research team in 2019, formed by the psychology and computer science department of the University of Berkeley in the U.S., scanned the brain, and they analyzed the data to verify the difference in the area that responds when processing the meaning of the word presented in the auditory format and also in the printed format. The result says that the same brain area process, the meaning of the words presented in an auditory format, and the words presented visually.
Since every child has different cognitive functions, learning ability, and patience, and different tasks, goals, they cannot say which is the most effective way among audiobooks, reading aloud and reading with eyes. The children remember more information while reading than other reading methods. A child cannot read a book aloud for a long time because the child’s attention and patience will fail. Do not force a child to read a book aloud; and it is a much easier task to finish the book sooner. Forced reading books aloud will result in a dwindling interest in books.
Forcing dyslectic children who cannot apply the sound-letter correspondence to continue reading aloud is torture; for such children, audiobooks are much easier and helpful. From audiobooks, the ability to process the meaning of the words in the brain can be developed continuously, and new vocabulary can be obtained. The correct method of reading should be chosen according to the child and the situation.
Effective reading does not depend on the type of book but depends on the method of reading. To improve your creativity or skills in thinking and deduction by reading a book, the methods of talking with a person about how you felt after reading, having a group discussion, or giving a presentation are recommended regardless of the book type. This process will help you to improve your ability to summarize, criticize, and critically think about the contents and have the cognitive flexibility to see objects and issues from multiple perspectives.
Today we get more information from the internet. If gaining knowledge is only because of reading books, it will be much faster to surf the internet and browse an internet encyclopedia. It is better to share with your friends and others around you, to broaden your thinking skills and have deeper insight. The conversation is the only way to develop high-level abilities of the brain, including abstract thinking as well as enhancing empathy.
