'Reading to little children boosts their brain activity, imagination, language skills' — Study

Parents have been encouraged to read to their children right from birth because it aids language development and support their early reading and learning skills.

A recent study quoted in a University Herald report showed that reading to young children is associated with differences in brain activity that support early reading skills.

The author of the study John Hutton said in a statement said it helps the child's brain process stories.

"We are excited to show, for the first time, that reading exposure during the critical stage of development prior to kindergarten seems to have a meaningful, measurable impact on how a child's brain processes stories and may help predict reading success," Hutton said.

"Of particular importance are brain areas supporting mental imagery, helping the child 'see the story' beyond the pictures, affirming the invaluable role of imagination."

Hutton's research used data from 19 healthy pre-schoolers ages 3 to 5 years old, 37 per cent of whom were from low-income households.

After data were analysed, it was found that greater home reading exposure was associated with activation of specific brain areas that support "semantic processing," or the extraction of meaning from language, areas which are critical for oral language and later for reading.

"This becomes increasingly important as children advance from books with pictures to books without them, where they must imagine what is going on in the text," Hutton said.

University Herald reports that the study's findings were presented at the at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in San Diego.