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Savannah McCamey

Professor Sharyn Hunter

ENG 1201 A50

26 February 2017

The Effects of Reading Fiction in Comparison to Watching Television on

Language and Theory of Mind Development

Societal norms steer closer to placing no importance on reading. Those

who are engaged in the lives of children often witness parents using technology

to entertain their children rather than teaching them healthy habits and ways

of using technology as a tool, engaging in their thoughts, and sharing valuable

perspectives and skills with them. From popular thinking I have considered

that reading has profound effects on language and see these effects in my

personal life. To understand more about the effects of reading on language

development, I have researched this topic and found another largely important

skill that is affected by reading- theory of mind (ToM). Theory of mind is

defined by Jessica Black and Jennifer Barnes, writers of the essay The effects

of reading on social and nonsocial cognition, as the ability to infer and reason

about mental states: our own and other peoples beliefs, desires, and

intentions (3). Upon reading this definition I was able to draw connections to
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the lives of children I know and realize the difference in play and language of

those who receive strong encouragement to read and those who are allowed

access to television and other electronics without bounds. Having bounds set

for the amount of digital media consumed, specifically TV shows, movies, and

videos, in conjunction to setting goals for reading, exercises the human brain

allowing for better language and theory of mind development.

Using current statistics and studies, one can see the loss of ability and

skill in the recent and current school-age generations. In the documentary

Why Reading Matters, Professor Maryanne Wolf of Tufts University in Boston

states that from 2004-09 children middle school and high school age were

flattening or declining in reading and comprehension skills gauged by academic

tests. She attributes these losses to the unhealthy use of digital media. This

statistic seems to be holding true for fourth- and eighth-grade students in

2015. The National Report Card, a website containing statistics on national

testing, states that fourth-grade reading levels are stagnant compared to those

reported in 2013 and eighth-grade reading levels are lower than those reported

in 2013. The report also states that about one-third of fourth- and eighth-

grade students in 2015 perform at or above the Proficient level in reading

(2015 Mathematics & Reading Assessments). These statistics paint a picture

of the failure of the United States families to incorporate reading and language
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development into the lives of their children. To be successful in nurturing the

young human brain, one needs to know the means of making it happen.

Many believe the consumption of television is as beneficial to our brains

and education as reading. Others place no importance on reading and view

leisure time as an opportunity to stop their minds from working and essentially

become passive in their thinking by absorbing content from television and

other media rather than reflecting on ideas. There are also those who believe in

the importance of reading and working ones brain to strengthen abilities. The

Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the value people place on watching television

and reading as it estimates an annual average percentage of leisure time spent

watching television to be over fifty-five percent in 2015 (American Time Use

Survey). This means more than half the time in an Americans day not spent

working, going to school, or fulfilling some obligation, they are watching

television. In this statistic, television does not include consuming other types of

digital media. This statistic also states that only six percent of leisure time

spent by Americans over fifteen-years-old is filled with reading. Making the age-

range smaller, fifteen- to nineteen-year-olds spend under four percent of their

leisure time reading according to the statistics the Bureau of Labor Statistics

provide (American Time Use Survey).

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Competing with the popular belief that television programs can benefit

language and education, studies confirm that watching television creates a

disconnect between parents and children and has physical effects on the brain

that cause lower IQ (Takeuchi). Melissa Chu writes of a 2013 study led by

Hiraku Takeuchi from Tohoku University in Japan that involved 276 children

and their mothers. The findings indicate that parts of the brain associated with

arousal and aggression as well as the frontal lobe that is associated with lower

verbal reasoning thickened as the children watched more television (see fig. 1)

(Chu). Douglas Fields, Chief of the Nervous System Development and Plasticity

Section at the National Institute of Health also reviewed this study and writes

that the scientists examined the same children several years later to find that

the anatomical changes strengthened through the years. The regions

correspond to arousal, aggression, emotions, and vision. There was an increase

in gray matter in many regions including the frontal lobe (see fig. 1) (Fields).

The results also show an indirect correlation between the hours of television

being watched and the scores of verbal proficiency tests. As the children

consumed more media, their tests results gauging verbal IQ were lower

regardless of factors including age, gender, and economic background.

Watching television actually affected the communication between the mother

and child. Generally, during the session of television viewing, comments made
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from the mother towards their child were sparse and random- they did not

relate to the childs comments (Chu).

Fig. 1 Positive correlations between regional gray matter volume changes and

duration of TV viewing (Takeuchi). Source: Hikaru Takeuchi, et al.; The Impact

of Television Viewing on Brain Structures: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal

Analyses; Cerebral Cortex, Nov. 2013, fig. 4, doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht315.

If executed correctly digital media, specifically television, can be

beneficial to education and language development. The American Academy of

Pediatrics wrote an article in 2016 speaking to the importance of parent-child

interaction and the danger of media. The article explains that media can be

beneficial to the learning of toddlers and is largely done by parents watching

media with the child and then revisiting and teaching the content later on.

Going on, the piece states that beginning at the age of fifteen months and

using applications created specifically for teaching that are not available for

commercial use, children are able to gain new language but still have difficulty

generalizing this knowledge to the physical world (Amer. Acad. of Ped.).

Although the effects are most probably of a lesser intensity than the interaction

decrease between parents and children when the television is on, studies show
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that excessive television viewing in the early years of childhood and delays in

cognition, language, and social/emotional development have close relations.

Using the evidence available, this article recommends a limited time of 1 hour

per day of digital media for children 2-5 years-old. This allows for engagement

in activities that support development and healthy habits for life (Amer. Acad.

of Ped.).

Although reading and comprehension tie into language development,

another important area affected by reading or the lack of is theory of mind

(ToM). In an article written by Lauren Lowry, speech-language pathologist, she

claims that recognizing others emotions and using words to express them,

knowing that one is separate and different than others, knowing that people

behave to get what they want or avoid what they do not want, understanding

the cause and consequences of emotions, and the ability to pretend or role play

are all functions of ToM. According to Lowry and her sources, theory of mind

really appears between the ages of four and five as typically developing children

begin considering the thoughts and feelings of others. Skills tend to develop in

this order: understanding desire, understanding thought or beliefs,

understanding that seeing something leads to knowing about it, understanding

inaccurate thoughts or false beliefs, and finally understanding hidden

feelings. The understanding of figurative language, sarcasm, and lies fall into
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the understanding of ToM (Lowry). Lowry expresses that some experts believe

ToM develops over a lifetime as a person experiences people and their behaviors

more. The issues that arise when ToM is not well-developed include not

understanding others decisions and finding it difficult to have conversations,

tell stories, or make friends. The importance of ToM is more prominent than

one may realize which makes the growth of it something to seek (Lowry).

ToM development is affected by reading fiction works like novels and

aided further, especially for children, by discussing the book. A way to nurture

the development of ToM as recommended by Lowry is to use books to discuss

the thoughts and emotions of the characters and to use similar language in

real life to discuss emotions being experienced and reasons behind them with

children (Lowry). A study conducted by Black and Barnes, a replica of one by

Kidd & Castano in 2013, used the Reading the Mind in Eyes test (RME) to

gauge the effects of reading fiction and nonfiction on social cognition-

specifically theory of mind. The RME is multiple-choice and displays photos of

peoples eye regions before asking the participant to choose one of four words

that best describe the emotion being felt by the subject of the photo. Both

studies present substantial evidence that reading fiction positively affects ToM

development (Black and Barnes). A study conducted by Gregory S. Berns,

Kristina Blaine, Michael J. Prietula, and Brandon E. Pye at Emory University

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used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans to monitor the

activity of the brain for nineteen consecutive days. The evenings before each of

the middle nine days of the experiment, participants read a section of the book,

Pompeii (Berns et al, 590-7). In fig. 2 below, in the upper left brain depicted, the

section of the brain containing the most nodes (symbolized by red dots) is the

left angular gyrus. This region of the brain holds a well-known position in

language comprehension, pointing to increased language development.

According to the authors of this study, A recent meta-analysis of theory of

mind studies identified the left angular gyrus as the third most likely region to

be activated if the task was story based (behind right angular gyrus and MPFC

both of which also appear in Network 1) Because the reading took place the

night before the fMRI scans, the results of the scans implicate that the effects

of reading the novels stayed in effect until at least the next morning (Berns et

al, 595-7). These show the lasting physical effects of reading fiction on the

brain.
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Fig. 2 Network 1...of nodes and connections

with significantly increased correlation during

story versus nonstory days. This network was

concentrated in a hub around the left angular

and supramarginal prefrontal cortex (Berns,

595) Source: Gregory S. Berns et al.; Short- and

Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in

the Brain; Brain Connectivity, vol. 3, no. 6, 2013,

595, DOI: 10.1089.brain.2013.0166.

The average parent wants to produce the best outcome for their childs

future. It is extremely difficult to do this without understanding the effects of

something seemingly simple as a moving picture in the modern atmosphere of

technology. Americans are surrounded with gadgets and most of their leisure

is spent watching television, but not all of those people know the effects these

items have on their engagement with their child or their brain matter. To see

children and adults with vivid imaginations and better understanding for one

another instead of stumbling through words and inconsolable without a device

would be signs of engaged parenting, plenty of book reading, and limited

television watching.
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Works Cited

2015 Mathematics & Reading Assessments. The Nations Report Card .

National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2015,

www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading_ math_2015/#?grade=4. Web.

American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media.

Media and Young Minds. Pediatrics, vol. 138, no. 5, 2006.

10.1542/peds.2016-2591. PDF.

American Time Use Survey. Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States

Department of Labor, Dec. 2016, www.bls.gov/tus/charts/leisure.htm.

Web.

Berns, Gregory S., Kristina Blaine, Michael J. Prietula, and Brandon E. Pye.

Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain.

Brain Connectivity, vol. 3, no. 6, 2013, 590-7, DOI:

10.1089/brain.2013.0166. PDF.

Black, J.E., and J.L. Barnes. The effects of reading material on social and

non-social cognition. Poetics, vol. 52, 2015, pp. 32-43. OhioLINK

Electronic Journal Center, doi:10.1016/J.POETIC.2015.07.001. Word

document.
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Chu, Melissa. Books vs. TV: How They Stack Up Against One Another. The

Blog, The Huffington Post, 11 July 2016.

www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-chu/books-vs -tv-how-they-

stac_b_10928340.html. Web.

Fields, Douglas. Watching TV Alters Children's Brain Structure and Lowers

IQ. blog.brainfacts.org. blog.brainfacts.org/2015/05/watching-tv-alters-

childrens- brain-structure-and-lowers-iq/#.WKEkJDsrLIU. Web.

Lowry, Lauren. Tuning In to Others: How Young Children Develop Theory of

Mind. The Hanen Centre. 2016, http://www.hanen.org/helpful-

info/articles/tuning-in- to-others-how-young-children-develop.aspx.

Web.

Takeuchi, Hiraku, Yasuyuki Taki, Hiroshi Hashizume, Kohei Asano, Michinko

Asano, Yuko Sassa, Susumu Yokota, Yuka Kotozaki, Rui Nouchi, and

Ryuta Kawashima. The Impact of Television Viewing on Brain

Structures: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analyses. Nov. 2013.

Cerebral Cortex, vol. 25, no. 5, 2015, 1188-97,

doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bht315. Web.

Why Reading Matters: A Holistic Study for the Digital Age. Films Media Group,

2009, fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=19259&xtid=41293.

Film.
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