A new study found that “transcendent thinking,” or trying to discern meaning and significance behind the surface of things, enhances brain growth in teenagers. Thinking transcendentally is about overcoming immediate reactions to events and situations and considering the broader ethical, spiritual, and relational implications at play, according to a report on the study from Neuroscience News. Here’s part of the finding:

The findings reveal a novel predictor of brain development—transcendent thinking. The researchers believe transcendent thinking may grow the brain because it requires coordinating brain networks involved in effortful, focused thinking, like the executive control network, with those involved in internal reflection and free-form thinking, like the default mode network.

These findings “have important implications for the design of middle and high schools, and potentially also for adolescent mental health,” lead researcher Immordino-Yang says.

Teens’ Transcendent Thinking Spurs Brain Growth – Neuroscience News

This kind of thinking is a large part of what’s required in reading great literature. Novels often take ordinary people, situations, and contexts and present them in such a way that invite deeper investigation. The surface events are indications of a “bigger picture,” in which often unseen forces like love, jealousy, poverty, or revenge are subtly at play. This is what author and commentator Andrew Klavan has said; we live in a “moral universe,” and one that requires a sense of the transcendent to legitimately appreciate. The report goes on:

In this 5-years longitudinal study, sixty-five 14–18 years-old youths’ proclivities to grapple psychologically with the ethical, systems-level and personal implications of social stories, predicted future increases in the coordination of two key brain networks: the default-mode network, involved in reflective, autobiographical and free-form thinking, and the executive control network, involved in effortful, focused thinking; findings were independent of IQ, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background.

The study could have impact on educational reform. Going beyond worksheets and standardized tests to grapple with “the bigger picture” looks to be the sort of education we all need the most.