Does reading change you? The answer is yes. More importantly, though, it changes you for the better. And now there’s science to back that up.

Researchers in a new field called literary neuroscience are studying the effects of reading on the brain–and ultimately the behavior of readers. Key findings: Readers develop more empathy than nonreaders, and it matters what you read.

One 2013 study at New York’s New School for Social Research had participants read excerpts from literary fiction, popular novels, and nonfiction articles, then take one of five tests that measure the person’s ability to decipher emotions in different scenarios. Readers of the literary fiction scored higher than the other readers or nonreaders. The study concluded that literature gives the reader practice in taking another person’s point of view.

In another study, this one in 2012 at Michigan State University, students read Jane Austen while inside a functional magnetic resonance machine. The MRI showed that students had increased blood flow across the entire brain while reading, including in areas unrelated to processing language or attention. The results were not true when reading nonfiction.

Another experiment, conducted in 2011 at Washington and Lee University, had students read a story designed to evoke empathy. Afterwards, the students rated on a questionnaire how “transported” they felt by the story. Then, the facilitator would stand and drop a pen. Participants were not aware this was part of the experiment. The students who reported being most transported by the story were also most likely to pick up the pen, indicating empathy.

I’d imagine writing fiction has a similar effect. When writing, I am often absorbed in the story and its characters, feeling everything they are feeling. And it’s great fun to create characters who are very different from yourself. I don’t need a university study to know my brain is lighting up with empathy while writing these scenes. I can feel it.

I can’t think of a better quality to breed in the world today than empathy. So I will go on reading and writing, and hope that in some small way this makes the world a more compassionate place.