Modern research suggests that reading fiction helps you neurologically relate to other people’s experiences. It also correlates with improved social interactions and the ability to read the room.

reading fiction can change people on an individual level. And a possible avenue for this change is an ability to cultivate empathy in readers.

As poet John Keats put it, “Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced.”

Research suggests that fictional books may effectively be empathy-building tools, offering us the closest we can get to first-hand knowledge of someone else’s experience.

Studies, particularly the work of Natalie M. Phillips, show that when you read fiction, it not only activates the temporal lobe (the language processing center of the brain) but also increases global blood flow in the brain. It revs up the motor cortex (the part involved in physical movement) and areas of the brain linked to sensory experiences such as the olfactory bulb (your sense of smell).

one study found that people who were drawn in by a tale were more likely to pick up pens that a researcher “accidentally” dropped. Another study found that they were more likely to ask for additional information about a charity.

the immediate experience had a positive association with “affective empathy” — that is, the capacity to share another’s feelings and emotions. It also reinforced findings that affective empathy specifically predicts immediate helping behavior.

When reading fiction, you can, to some degree, experience the experiences of others, getting you neurologically one step closer to an understanding necessary for empathy.

research suggests that reading literary fiction improves one’s theory of mind and emotional intelligence.