Researchers from Turkey and Germany wanted to understand whether learning to read shapes how we think about other people's minds. Specifically, they looked at "false-belief reasoning"—the ability to recognise that someone else might believe something different from what is actually true. This is a crucial skill for empathy and social understanding.
The study included adult native Turkish speakers, some who could read and write and others who could not. Researchers tested their reading speed, thinking skills (like the ability to ignore distractions), and their ability to understand false beliefs.
Reading fluency matters far more than other thinking skills
The most striking finding was that reading speed—measured by how many words someone could read in one minute—was the strongest predictor of false-belief reasoning. In fact, reading fluency alone explained nearly half (49%) of the differences in how well people performed on the false-belief task. This was much more powerful than other factors like general intelligence or the ability to ignore distractions.
Why reading might reshape how children think about others
The researchers propose that reading builds false-belief reasoning through several pathways. When children read stories, they follow characters with different desires, beliefs, and intentions than their own. This repeated practice—entering different minds through narrative—may strengthen the ability to understand that others think and know different things. Reading also builds language skills and "metalinguistic awareness" (understanding how language works), which support social reasoning.
It's important to note this study was conducted with adults in Turkey, not with children in Singapore. The connection between reading and social understanding shown here is strong, but researchers cannot yet say whether the same pattern holds for young nursery-age children or across different languages and cultures.
Start building this skill early through stories
- Read picture books aloud to your child regularly, pausing to discuss what characters are thinking or feeling.
- Choose stories where characters have different beliefs or knowledge than each other, to model perspective-taking naturally.