A review by the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics finds that learning to read produces deeper and more lasting changes in brain function than physical exercise, rest or caffeine. The analysis, which draws together research from psychology, neuroscience and education, shows that literacy strengthens memory, attention, reasoning and language processing, and that literate adults outperform illiterate peers even in facial recognition. The effect is not confined to childhood: continued reading of complex texts throughout life sustains and extends these cognitive gains. In contrast, a publication from Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM) documents how ultra-short video platforms have helped shrink the average time a person spends on a single screen-based task from 150 seconds in 2003 to 47 seconds today, while a 2013 classroom study found that students who multitasked on laptops scored 11 per cent lower and took poorer notes than those who focused on the lesson.

These divergent outcomes rest on the brain’s lifelong plasticity. During adolescence, synaptic pruning follows a “use it or lose it” logic, strengthening circuits that are repeatedly activated. The reward system is especially reactive to novelty and social approval, which is why music heard between the ages of 13 and 18 becomes an enduring emotional anchor—a phenomenon researchers call the reminiscence bump. Meanwhile, a decade-long series of studies led by Suzanne Dikker of New York University and Ghent University, involving thousands of participants monitored with portable EEG, demonstrates that brain rhythms between individuals can synchronise during face-to-face interaction. This “social synchrony” correlates with more positive relationships and greater engagement in shared activities, while loneliness is associated with more idiosyncratic neural patterns.

The UNAM analysis warns that the adolescent prefrontal cortex, which governs impulse control and sustained attention, is not yet fully mature. Constant digital interruptions force repeated adjustments in this region, accumulating glutamate and raising the cognitive cost of concentration. The brain then favours low-effort, immediately gratifying alternatives, a cycle that can contribute to anxiety and diminished working memory. The Max Planck team cautions that falling literacy rates could erode the very cognitive capacities measured by intelligence tests, and that AI writing tools are unlikely to compensate for a decline in deep reading.

A $4 million grant from the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) will now fund clinical trials to test whether brain synchronisation can be harnessed to improve psychological and rehabilitative treatments. Dikker and her collaborators stress that the ability to “engineer” interpersonal synchrony requires further experimental verification before any widespread application. The next milestone is the launch of those trials, which will determine whether the neural alignment observed in laboratories and concert halls can be translated into measurable therapeutic outcomes.