Amrita Bains

an image of amrita
Post Doctorate Research Assistant
Experimental Psychology
amrita.bains.sjc@ox.ac.uk

I fell in love with reading as a child, thanks to my neighbour, Rain, who often took me to the local library because of her own love for books. From then on, I was hooked—choosing a new book became something I always looked forward to. As an adult, this passion hasn’t changed, although now I sometimes find myself with a growing pile of books waiting to be read! This made me reflect on what I truly enjoy about reading. For me, the greatest benefits are how relaxing and entertaining it is. I’m an avid non-fiction reader, always eager to learn something new, but I also enjoy a good historical fiction or crime novel.

Currently, I work as a post-doctoral research assistant on the Bookness Project, collaborating with Nicky Dawson and Kate Nation. We’re also partnering with the Story Museum to explore how the different properties of books, audiobooks, and storytelling influence our learning experiences.

Before this, I completed a collaborative PhD studentship at Royal Holloway in collaboration with the Reading Agency. My PhD research focused on understanding and measuring intrinsic motivation for reading. I sought to answer three key questions: 1) How can we measure reading motivation? 2) What factors influence our motivation? 3) Which brain networks are involved when we read something we enjoy?

My favourite word

My favourite word tends to change every year, but right now it’s curiosity—the strong desire to learn something new. I’ve often been told that I’m too curious for my own good, which, depending on which friend of mine you ask, would either make me the first to die or the sole survivor in a horror film.

My favourite childhood book

Like many British children born in the '90s, my favourite book is Harry Potter. As I grew older, The Half-Blood Prince became my favourite, but as a child, it was always The Philosopher's Stone. The story felt so magical, and I always dreamed of going to Hogwarts. Although now I am working in Oxford, I feel like I’m already pretty close!