ReaderBank

If you've been thinking what ReaderBank's been up to, does this haiku help?

@thereaderbank.bsky.social I've just been at your 2pm workshop within the #ContainsStrongLanguage festival, and the great discussion made me think of this text which appeared last year: Más cultos, más sanos y ¿mejores? Lo que dice la ciencia sobre los grandes lectores elpais.com/salud-y-bien...

The end to another Edinburgh Book Festival - had a wonderful time with @thereaderbank.bsky.social once more, fantastic to share a stage with Maggie O'Farrell for the Secret Life of Books Podcast, and great fun talking consciousness with @danieljamesyon.bsky.social & Michael Pollan

@thereaderbank.bsky.social @aldersonday.bsky.social @maryrobbo.bsky.social @georgiapunton.bsky.social @aryaray.bsky.social @nickbarley.bsky.social

Don't miss @thereaderbank.bsky.social at BBC Contains Strong Language in Salford later this month! Join us on 25–27 September to explore how poetry engages the imagination in different and surprising ways at our workshop and drop-in sessions. Find out more: medhumsplatform.org/readerbank-a...

That’s a wrap on #ReaderBank at the @edbookfest.bsky.social! 📚✨ Two brilliant days in the Discovery Zone talking with young readers and teachers about what happens in our imaginations when we read: how characters sound, stories feel, and whole worlds take shape.

We’ve had such interesting discussions today about how characters sound, stories feel and worlds look in our minds when we read. We’re still buzzing with excitement after today, and can’t wait to tell you what comes next! If you don’t know what your Reader Type is yet, head over to readerbank.org

If you’re at the Edinburgh International Book Festival today, come visit us at the Discovery Zone for children in Venue B! We’d love to speak to young readers and teachers about how you imagine when you read... and while you’re at it, come do the quiz and grab a trading card and pretty bookmarks!

This morning I was on R4 for All in the Mind talking about @thereaderbank.bsky.social and the effects of fiction on the mind - you can listen to it here www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

The ReaderBank team is on the way to the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 26-27 August! 🔮Find us at the Discovery Zone where we will talk to young readers and schoolteachers about how stories manifest themselves in our imagination when we read.

#ReaderBank is brought to you by an interdisciplinary team @durham.ac.uk , including @aldersonday.bsky.social @georgiapunton.bsky.social, Nick Barley, @literarti.bsky.social @maryrobbo.bsky.social and @aryaray.bsky.social. Generously supported by @wellcometrust.bsky.social.

🌠 Voice Match Ever read a book, vividly imagined a character, and then watched a film or TV adaptation only to feel that the character’s voice was just… wrong? This study explores how people experience the voices of fictional characters differently. 👉 readerbank.org/experience/v...

🌠 In it Together For some stories, we connect with characters in ways that can be hard to express: we might be friends for life, see the world through their eyes, or even imagine walking in their footsteps. Help shed light on how and why this process occurs. 👉 readerbank.org/experience/i...

🌠 In Two Minds This activity explores what happens when something makes us feel mixed, often contrasting emotions, and in what ways this affects our reading experience. 👉 readerbank.org/experience/i...

🌠Repair Repair will ask you about your inner experiences, imagination, and daydreams. We want to understand how reading and the imagination can shape (and be shaped by) our mental health to improve understandings of how we can ‘repair’. 👉 readerbank.org/experience/r...

🌠 The Imagination Quiz How do people imagine while they read? And does everyone imagine in the same way? This short quiz will reveal which features of the imagination are the most prominent when you read. 👉 readerbank.org/experience/i...

What kind of reader are you? On #WorldBookDay, take a deep dive into the mysteries of the reading imagination with @thereaderbank.bsky.social 👉 readerbank.org 🧵

ReaderBank has a sparkly new website! readerbank.org And new modules to help us better understand reading experiences, how the imagination works and what this means for mental health. Sign up to get involved in the world’s most ambitious study of the reading imagination! 🧵

And scene! Our time at the @edbookfest.bsky.social was exciting and rewarding! It’s not over yet – our website is still buzzing with activity, and the modules are still live online. Explore how we imagine, how we feel, how we read, and what that means for our mental health! readerbank.org

Our lead researcher @aldersonday.bsky.social joins @jennykleeman.bsky.social and Emily Postan to talk about mental health and the use of digital technologies like AI for treatment. In this shifting landscape, what considerations and safeguards are needed to embed these treatments in the mainstream?

So much unpacked at ‘The Science of Imagination’ today! Our v. own @aldersonday.bsky.social was in conversation with neurologist Adam Zeman, exploring the latest scientific research on the brain’s creative powers, from the phenomenon of ‘aphantasia’ to what happens in our minds as we imagine.

The Forces of the Imagination: Exploring dimensions of mental imagery using the ReaderBank Imagination Quiz (RBIQ): https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/47hq9_v1

The #ReaderBank Imagination Quiz aims to understand readers’ imaginations with potential to enhance mental health therapies. shorturl.at/gHVSx @thereaderbank.bsky.social @durhamimh.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @aldersonday.bsky.social @georgiapunton.bsky.social @edbookfest.bsky.social

It’s our first day at @edbookfest.bsky.social and our website has had a glow-up – go and take a look! readerbank.org

New from @durhamimh.bsky.social - the first @thereaderbank.bsky.social paper! We identify 4 factors in a new scale of reading imagery, the ReaderBank Imagination Quiz. Well done 1st author @georgiapunton.bsky.social & thanks to our partners at @edbookfest.bsky.social Cc @durhampsych.bsky.social

👏👏👏 Congratulations to @georgiapunton.bsky.social, Marco Bernini, John Foxwell, @nickbarley.bsky.social, & @aldersonday.bsky.social @thereaderbank.bsky.social

🔥Hot off the press! New pre-print with the v. first findings from our study of reading, the imagination and mental health in collab with @edbookfest.bsky.social doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Are you ready for tomorrow? We can't wait for our public workshop on 'Unlocking the Mind and Mental Health'. There's a surprise in store...

#Readerbank is back at @edbookfest.bsky.social! Excited to support our fantastic team, led by @aldersonday.bsky.social, run an invitation-only event for publishers, agents & writers. Professor in Practice @nickbarley.bsky.social begins with the big question: what happens in our minds when we read?

So exciting to forge new connections with members and partners of the book industry in our #ReaderBank2025 workshop with writers, publishers and editors at @edbookfest.bsky.social today. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our rich and rewarding discussions!