A team of neuroscientists and academics gathered at the University of Cambridge last month for a conference with the aim of investigating the impact that dark teen novels such as the Twilight saga are having on children’s brain developments.

Despite being celebrated for the reported five per cent rise in children’s book sales last year, Stephanie Meyer’s books were scrutinised alongside similar books of this genre for the negative lessons they may be teaching young readers. Children’s brains are reported to be exceptionally vulnerable to their reading material in the early stages of their brain development.

The organiser of the conference, Maria Nikolajeva, Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education, commented that literary scholars have recently learnt from neuroscientists that "actions such as planning, decision-making, and synthesis of information are still underdeveloped in the adolescent brain".

A particular concern for the conference participants was the portrayal of gender. According to them, the main character Bella is written to be "feminine and silly" and the female characters’ "only concern is to get a boyfriend and get married". Edward, by contrast, is "handsome, strong and smart".

Nonetheless, the conference and its attending academics concluded that books of this type should not be dismissed as totally harmful, as they contain valuable social and ethical lessons.

Professor Nikolajeva cautioned that "young adult fiction, film, music, graphic novels and games are an excellent training field for understanding how other people think, feel, act and respond to actions".

Furthermore, reading of any kind helps to develop literacy skills and the immense popularity of the Twilight books is likely to spur further reading from its fans, as indeed has been learnt from the aftermath of the Harry Potter phenomenon.

Professor Nikolajeva surmises that dark novels for teenagers may not be bad after all, as "there is no point in telling them that the world is a nice place, and young adult fiction, unlike literature for younger children, has always dealt with serious and often dark issues", giving reassurance to Twilight’s young fan base.

The academic study of the Twilight books follows a recent trend of analysing popular teen culture.

Last term, a new Centre for Research and Teaching in Children’s Literature was launched at Cambridge, which aimed to study such cultural products as video games, Disney movies, and comic books, alongside literary classics like Treasure Island. Notably, the Twilight books were also part of the Centre’s study.

The Twilight books have sold over 100 million copies globally, and have been translated into dozens of languages. The books have also been adapted into movies, which have been worldwide hits.