The Twilight Zone?

The effect on the teenage brain of books like Twilight and the Harry Potter series is to be examined at Cambridge University. Scientists, authors and education experts will all gather to discuss whether there are 'Twilight zones' in the teenage mind; areas of the brain in some way affected or altered by the reading of books like the wildly-popular vampire novels of Stephanie Meyer. A three-day conference from September 3-5 will make connections between recent neuroscience research and the representation of the adolescent in literature, film, computer games and social networking sites. Organiser Professor Maria Nikolajeva, pictured, said: "We are bringing together people from different disciplines from all over the world to look at the physiological, psychological, chemical and sociological effects of reading teenage fiction. "Research is going on not just here but around the world into neuroscience and literature; how the teenage brain responds to narrative in the printed word, computer games, media and social media. These things can be the most important part of a teenager's life. "We need to study this to see what it's all about.