Every reader has a shelf that feels like home.
Mine has always been fantasy. My childhood library checkouts were filled with Magic Tree House, Edward Eager’s Half Magic series, Percy Jackson and Eragon. These days, I’ve traded them for sprawling adult fantasy epics, but the feeling hasn’t changed.
As a health editor, that made me wonder: Why are some of us drawn to fantasy while others devour thrillers, memoirs or beach reads? And what, exactly, happens inside our brains when we become completely absorbed in a story? Is it different for my fantasy-obsessed brain than one that goes crazy for Stephen King or Elin Hilderbrand?
To get inside our heads, I spoke with two researchers who study the power of imagined experiences: Raymond A. Mar, PhD, a psychology professor at York University, and Melanie C. Green, PhD, a SUNY distinguished professor and the chair of communication at the University at Buffalo. Read on to find out what your favorite reads do to your brain—and why you keep coming back for more.
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What does reading do to our brains overall?
Reading is a major group project for the brain. A 2021 review published in the Annual Review of Vision Science describes how visual areas recognize letters, a region often called the visual word form area becomes tuned in to written words, and language networks connect those shapes with sounds and meaning. Attention keeps you focused on the words in front of you, while memory helps you connect them to everything that came before, whether that’s the first clue in a mystery or the tiny detail that suddenly makes the ending click.
Learning to read is itself an example of neuroplasticity. The brain strengthens coordination among systems that originally evolved for other purposes, gradually becoming faster and more efficient at turning marks on a page into language.
With fiction, those systems do something more: They help simulate an experience. Readers imagine a character’s situation and draw on their own memories and knowledge to bring it to life. Green calls this narrative transportation. “We have thoughts, we have emotions, we have mental imagery,” she says. “When you’re absorbed in the story, all of those are kind of getting focused on the same thing. They’re getting focused on making that story come to life.”
That is why fear, attraction or grief prompted by a book can affect us so much. “Those feelings still feel very real in the moment,” Green explains, “even if we don’t necessarily translate them to the same kind of behaviors that we would for an actual emotion prompted by a nonfictional event.”
Researchers are still working out whether repeatedly entering fictional worlds produces lasting cognitive benefits. A 2024 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General reviewed 70 experiments and found small average benefits from reading fiction, with the clearest effects involving empathy and mentalizing, or inferring what another person may be thinking and feeling. Other studies have produced more mixed results, suggesting that the effects depend on factors such as the reader, the book and the depth of engagement.
Why are we drawn to certain genres?
“There are countless reasons why someone might prefer a book,” Mar says. Readers may be drawn to a particular setting, theme or type of protagonist, and those preferences can shift depending on where they are in life or even what is happening that day.
That said, Green notes that people higher in sensation-seeking may gravitate toward horror, action and adventure, while others might prefer calmer stories that offer comfort. We may also look for recognition in characters who share our identity or use fiction to explore a life far outside our own.
But genre is not a personality test. A cozy mystery and a serial-killer thriller share a bookstore section without creating the same psychological experience, just as a dark romance and a breezy beach read are not interchangeable.
What does each genre do to our brains?
Research has not produced a brain scan for every bookstore shelf. The studies cited below tend to isolate one ingredient, such as suspense, magical events, romantic love or humor, rather than comparing entire genres. Most use functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which tracks changes in blood oxygen associated with brain activity. It can show which areas are more active during a task, but it does not directly measure whether reading released dopamine, adrenaline or another neurotransmitter.
Still, the findings offer clues about what different stories ask our minds to do and why those experiences can feel so compelling.
Mysteries and thrillers
Mysteries and thrillers invite readers to gather clues, make predictions and continually revise their theories as new information appears.
In a 2015 fMRI study published in PLOS ONE, 23 adults read a shortened version of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s The Sandman and rated their suspense during each section. As suspense rose, researchers saw more activity in regions involved in predicting what may happen next and tracking what characters know, want or fear. And your brain isn’t just waiting for the reveal. It’s building a theory, testing it against each new clue and deciding when the old explanation no longer fits. The study focused on one literary story, but it captures some of the mental work that makes suspense feel so active.
Green says mysteries can also be satisfying because they impose order on uncertainty. “Things make sense, and justice is restored,” she says, offering a kind of resolution that real life does not always provide.
Romance
Romance asks readers to interpret emotion, attraction, attachment and shifting relationship dynamics. Following the story often means tracking what each character wants, what they believe about the other person and whether those feelings are reciprocated.
A 2013 study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts found that greater lifetime exposure to romance fiction was associated with better performance on a measure of interpersonal sensitivity. Because the researchers looked at people’s existing reading habits, the finding leaves open whether romance sharpened that sensitivity or whether socially attuned readers were simply more drawn to the genre.
Either way, it challenges the stereotype of romance as little more than fluff. Beach reads, chick lit and romantasy can involve plenty of social tracking when relationships drive the plot. They also recreate some of the emotional rhythms of a crush: focused attention on one person, uncertainty about whether the feeling is mutual and anticipation of any sign that the relationship may move forward.
A 2024 review published in Neuropsychologia found that early-stage romantic love consistently engages regions within the brain’s reward and motivation system, including the ventral tegmental area and caudate nucleus. A foundational 2005 fMRI study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology found greater activity in those dopamine-rich regions when people who described themselves as intensely in love looked at a photo of their beloved. Romance novels have not been shown to reproduce that neural response, but they build on a familiar emotional pattern: Attention narrows to one desired person, uncertainty heightens the anticipation and every small step toward connection feels like a payoff. It is the literary equivalent of having a crush, with less personal risk and significantly better dialogue.
Fantasy
To follow a fantasy novel, readers must construct an unfamiliar world, learn its rules and notice when those rules are broken. A 2015 fMRI study published in PLOS ONE compared magical passages from the Harry Potter series with matched passages that contained no magic. The supernatural scenes produced stronger activity in regions involved in integrating unexpected information, attention and emotional response.
It was just one experiment using one fictional universe, but the finding captures a central challenge of fantasy: Readers must fit impossible events into a world that still feels internally consistent. Following a complicated fantasy epic can feel like learning a strategy-heavy game. You have to understand how the system works, hold its rules in mind and notice when an exception changes everything. Science fiction and dystopian novels pose technological, political and social “what ifs,” while romantasy layers relationship dynamics onto that world-building. Mar notes that a book like Dune can demand just as much strategic prediction and careful attention as a mystery, even if it asks different questions along the way.
Horror
Horror offers what researchers call recreational fear: the chance to seek out a frightening experience for enjoyment while remaining physically safe. A 2022 review published in Neuropsychopharmacology describes “threat processing” as a conversation among several brain regions. The amygdala helps identify and learn the significance of possible threats, while areas of the prefrontal cortex help interpret and regulate the response. Although that research extends beyond horror reading, it helps explain how fictional danger can grab us even when we know we are safe.
The appeal may depend on finding the right amount of fear. In a 2021 field study published in Psychological Science, researchers tracked the heart rates of 110 people moving through a haunted-house attraction. Enjoyment peaked at a middle ground: Too little fear was boring, while too much became unpleasant. A novel is less physically intense than a haunted house, but it offers the same useful boundary. The danger feels urgent while the reader remains safely outside it.
Regular exposure to frightening stories may also make the emotions of uncertainty feel more familiar. A 2021 study published in Personality and Individual Differences found that horror-film fans reported greater psychological resilience during the early COVID-19 pandemic, while fans of apocalyptic “prepper” films felt more prepared. The study found an association (rather than proof) between horror and that resilience, but it raises an intriguing possibility: Imagining terrible scenarios may make the emotions of real uncertainty feel more familiar.
Historical fiction
Historical fiction lets readers “really step in” to another time, Green says. Instead of memorizing names and dates, readers can imagine “what it would have been like to be living through that particular time.”
A 2023 study published in The Reading Teacher offers a small glimpse of that process. Children ages 9 to 12 listened to either excerpts from the historical novel Bud, Not Buddy or a nonfiction passage about the Great Depression containing the same factual information. Both groups learned a similar amount of history. But among the children who heard the novel, greater immersion was associated with perspective-taking, imagining themselves inside the story and wanting to help someone in need. Listening to short excerpts is not the same as an adult disappearing into a 400-page novel, but the study shows how narrative can surround historical facts with people, relationships and emotion without getting in the way of learning.
Memoirs
Memoirs invite readers into another person’s memories and experiences while encouraging us to compare the author’s life with our own. Have I felt something similar? Would I have made the same choice?
That instinct reflects the way we already use our own memories. A 2005 study published in Social Cognition found that people draw on autobiographical memories to maintain a sense of self, connect with others and let the past guide present decisions. A memoir can send us through a similar process, even though the memory on the page belongs to someone else.
The reader moves between two lives, following how the author interprets an experience while reconsidering something from their own past. As Green explains, memoir is nonfiction, but it can still create the deep personal connection of a compelling narrative.
Humor
Humor gives the brain two related jobs: figuring out why something is funny and enjoying the payoff once it clicks.
A 2023 fMRI study published in The Journal of Neuroscience examined humor comprehension and appreciation in 26 adults using written jokes and clips from Seinfeld. The dorsal striatum was involved in getting the joke, including holding information in mind, resolving ambiguity and reinterpreting a setup when the punchline changes its meaning. The ventral striatum, part of the brain’s reward circuitry, was involved in enjoying it.
The findings point to a two-step process when it comes to funny writing: First comes the mental shift that lets you understand the joke, followed by the pleasure of getting it. A joke is a tiny problem with a much more pleasant solution than most tiny problems.
What is the best genre to read?
There is no proven winner. Fiction may offer social simulation; nonfiction can expand knowledge; mysteries emphasize prediction; and fantasy asks readers to build and navigate unfamiliar worlds.
“The most beneficial book is the one that we enjoy and holds our attention,” Mar says. “It’s a bit like the saying that the best exercise for you is the one that you will do.”
He recommends simply reading what you enjoy—and reading a lot. So read what keeps you engaged, and occasionally wander beyond your usual shelf.
How can you maximize these neurological benefits?
No reading habit guarantees a particular benefit, but research supports several ways to protect your comprehension, remember more and engage more deeply with what you read.
Protect your attention
A story has a harder time transporting you when part of your mind keeps leaving the page. A 2022 meta-analysis published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review examined 25 studies and found that more mind-wandering was associated with poorer reading comprehension.
The researchers studied drifting attention rather than phone notifications specifically, but silencing them removes one obvious invitation to check out. Put your phone out of reach, close unnecessary browser tabs or choose even a short stretch when the book is the only thing asking for your attention.
Make predictions
Part of the pleasure of reading is trying to stay one step ahead. Pause occasionally to ask what a character wants, what may happen next or which seemingly minor detail could matter later.
A 2021 review published in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review found that making a prediction before learning an answer can improve learning under certain conditions, particularly when the outcome is surprising. In a story, even a wrong guess keeps you engaged: When the author overturns your theory, you have to notice the new evidence and rebuild your understanding.
Retrieve the story
After a chapter or reading session, briefly recap what happened without looking back. Recalling the material asks more of your memory than simply seeing it again.
A 2024 study published in Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition used prose passages to examine retrieval practice across three experiments. Recalling an earlier passage helped participants remember information from passages they encountered later, compared with restudying or completing unrelated tasks.
For fiction, try recalling what changed, what each character currently wants and which questions remain unanswered. For nonfiction, explain the central idea and its supporting evidence in your own words. This does not have to turn pleasure reading into homework; even a brief mental recap makes you reconstruct the information rather than simply recognize it on the page.
Put it in your own words
Finishing the final sentence is not always the same as deciding what a book meant. Try explaining why you trusted one character, what you thought the ending meant or how a new idea connects with something you already knew.
A 2023 network meta-analysis published in Review of Educational Research found that effective reading-comprehension programs often combined strategies such as connecting text with prior knowledge, drawing inferences and checking understanding. The research focused on students with reading difficulties, but those same habits can happen informally in a book-club conversation, a voice note or a few written sentences.
Reread without guilt
Rereading is not wasted effort simply because you already know the ending. A 2022 study published in The Journal of Social Psychology assigned participants to reread a favorite novel, begin an appealing new one or read newspaper articles. Those who returned to a favorite book reported more nostalgia and social connectedness. The study captured an immediate emotional experience rather than a lasting cognitive change, but that may be exactly why rereading feels so good: Familiarity leaves more room to reconnect with the world and people inside the book.
You may also notice foreshadowing, patterns and emotional details that you missed when you were racing to find out what happened.
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At Reader’s Digest, we’re committed to producing high-quality content by writers with expertise and experience in their field in consultation with relevant, qualified experts. We rely on reputable primary sources, including government and professional organizations and academic institutions as well as our writers’ personal experiences where appropriate. For this piece on the neuroscience of reading, Miranda Manier tapped her longtime experience as a journalist and health editor to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We verify all facts and data, back them with credible sourcing and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Raymond A. Mar, PhD, professor of psychology at York University; interviewed, July 2026
- Melanie C. Green, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo; interviewed, July 2026
- PLOS ONE: “Reading a Suspenseful Literary Text Activates Brain Areas Related to Social Cognition and Predictive Inference”
- Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts: “What You Read Matters: The Role of Fiction Genre in Predicting Interpersonal Sensitivity”
- Neuropsychologia: “Joyful growth vs. compulsive hedonism: A meta-analysis of brain activation on romantic love and addictive disorders”
- PLOS ONE: “The Magical Activation of Left Amygdala When Reading Harry Potter: An fMRI Study on How Descriptions of Supra-Natural Events Entertain and Enchant”
- Neuropsychopharmacology: “Prefrontal Cortex, Amygdala, and Threat Processing: Implications for PTSD”
- Personality and Individual Differences: “Pandemic Practice: Horror Fans and Morbidly Curious Individuals Are More Psychologically Resilient During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
- The Reading Teacher: “Fact from Fiction: The Learning Benefits of Listening to Historical Fiction”
- The Journal of Neuroscience: “Establishing the Roles of the Dorsal and Ventral Striatum in Humor Comprehension and Appreciation with fMRI”
- Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition: “Retrieval Practice Can Promote New Learning with Both Related and Unrelated Prose Materials”
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