Agatha Christie’s Popularity: The Secret is in Phrases
Richard Brooks
The Sunday Times, UK
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The mystery behind Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities collaborating on a study of more than 80 of her crime novels.
The study by neuro-linguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick shows that she peppered her prose with phrases that act as a trigger to raise levels of serotonin and endorphins, the chemical messengers in the brain that induce pleasure and satisfaction. “Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” said Dr Roland Kapferer, who co- ordinated the research.
“The release of these neurological opiates makes Christie’s writing literally unputdownable.” The study — The Agatha Project — involved loading Christie’s novels onto a computer and analysing her words, phrases and sentences.
Favourite words or phrases, repeatedly used in a “mesmerising” way, help to stimulate the pleasure-inducing side of the brain. They include she, yes, girl, kind, smiled and suddenly. Common phrases include “can you keep an eye on this”, “more or less”, “a day or two” and “something like that”.
Dec 18, 2005
Richard BrooksThe Sunday Times, UK
_________________
The mystery behind Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity may have been solved by three leading universities collaborating on a study of more than 80 of her crime novels.
The study by neuro-linguists at the universities of London, Birmingham and Warwick shows that she peppered her prose with phrases that act as a trigger to raise levels of serotonin and endorphins, the chemical messengers in the brain that induce pleasure and satisfaction. “Christie’s language patterns stimulate higher than usual activity in the brain,” said Dr Roland Kapferer, who co- ordinated the research.
“The release of these neurological opiates makes Christie’s writing literally unputdownable.” The study — The Agatha Project — involved loading Christie’s novels onto a computer and analysing her words, phrases and sentences.
Favourite words or phrases, repeatedly used in a “mesmerising” way, help to stimulate the pleasure-inducing side of the brain. They include she, yes, girl, kind, smiled and suddenly. Common phrases include “can you keep an eye on this”, “more or less”, “a day or two” and “something like that”.
Dec 18, 2005
