The Dream of Wearing Shorts Forever - by Les Murray

New podcast! Alistair Bryce-Clegg with Sam Wass and Gemma Goldenberg abcdoes.substack.com/p/guest…

That is why reading books stimulates young brains better! Read the report here: booktrust.org.uk/about-us/re…

So with TV the pacing is pre-set- they can’t dial it up or down depending on familiarity or mood. But with books, they’re more in control. And there is less perceptual information (sights and sounds for their brain has to process) but more cognitions (internally generated ideas).

Second, the rate at which information is coming at a child is under their control when they’re reading. They control the pacing - how long they stay on each page, and whether they go forwards a page of back (which they often do).

Two key diffs in how we take in info when reading: First, the info coming into the brain is low band-width. It’s just black shapes on a white background. The brain then builds on this– imagining sights and sounds to build onto the words we read – but this is internally generated

When I’m in a situation where information is coming at me too fast and I can’t predict what’s going to happen I go into high alert mode, with increased activity in a part of the brain known as the brainstem. This is triggered by situations I find unpredictable.

Screens give us a lot of visual and auditory information that comes at us really quickly. Young brains – that are messier, less experienced, and with less prior knowledge - find it harder to predict what will happen from one moment to the next.

Our brains are prediction machines. Moment by moment with each eye movement you make as you’re reading this your brain is guessing in advance what word you’re going to read next.

Just been at #hayfestival talking with @frank_cottrellboyce about the #readingrights campaign for @booktrust. We were talking about the neuroscience of why book stimulate young brains better than taking in the same information from screens. Here’s what we were saying: 👇

When it comes to early years screen media, how fast-paced is too fast? Article on our new @LeverhulmeTrust project with @JuliaDavidson13 that's going to be tracking the maximum rate of on-screen information that young brains can process media.leverhulme.ac.uk/featu…