Hmmm. Gotta go re-read all those Agatha Christie stories, I guess. I read most of them as a kid.
I’ll have to think about this for a day or two and see if I can integrate her phrases into my conversations. Or something like that.
CBC Arts: Scientists solve another Agatha Christie mystery
Scientists in Britain say they’ve cracked the mystery surrounding the popularity of Agatha Christie’s murder novels.
Neurolinguistic researchers at three universities studied more than 80 of her novels and have concluded her phrases activate a pleasure response. Neurolinguists explore the relationship between language and brain function.
“Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” Dr. Roland Kapferer told the Sunday Times newspaper. Kapferer co-ordinated the study.
Researchers say certain phrases such as “can you keep an eye on this, “a day or two” and “something like that” raised levels of serotonin and endorphins in the brain. The chemicals induce pleasure and satisfaction.
Kapferer said the release of the chemicals make her writing “literally unputdownable.”
British television network ITV1 conceived The Agatha Christie Project as a documentary and engaged the services of neurolinguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick.
“Her narrative lays down what can be described as a general mist of ideas …”—Dr. Roland Kapferer
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