Reading creates changes in your brain — and that's a problem for neuroscience

At the Brain Watch blog, Christian Jarrett explains why that "reading a novel changes your brain" study really matters. Turns out, it has big implications for neuroscience. Not because it proves reading makes you smarter or anything, but because it demonstrates flaws in a fundamental assumption of most neuroscience research — that the "resting state" of your brain represents a neutral zone that you can easily compare to what happens when you do a given activity.