In 2013, psychologists Emanuele Castano and David Comer Kidd published a study summarising the results of five experiments they have conducted. The experiments looked at the impact of reading on empathy and the ability to understand others. Well, the results, in a nutshell, show a very positive effect. Apart from literature, the tests used bestsellers and academic works, though we have bad news for fans of the latter two categories. The positive change only occurred when reading literature.