![]() They also have greater “background knowledge,” familiarity with the structure and content of what is being read. Skilled readers know more about language, including many words and structures that occur in print but not in speech. Reading skill depends on knowledge acquired from reading. The serious way to improve reading-how well we comprehend a text and, yes, speed and efficiency-is this (apologies, Michael Pollan): The Shortest Answer is Doing the Thing If reading at megaspeeds is not feasible, does that mean reading can’t be improved? Not at all. With longer texts, the RSVP reading experience is monotonous and exhausting. Alas, the experiments also found that subjects could only sustain reading at high speeds with good comprehension for short bursts. In laboratory studies, college students could read with RSVP at up to 700 words per minute with good comprehension, about triple their normal speeds. The experience feels like stalking the text rather than reading it. The reader loses control over the rate of transmission and, with it, the ability to allocate reading time intelligently. Every word, whether door or morrow, is displayed for the same amount of time. Was the “Raven” video encouraging? The text is presented at about 278 words per minute, within the skilled reading range, yet requires extra effort to understand. We have ways to eliminate them, but they won’t make you a more efficient reader. The efficient coping strategy-the one that skilled readers discover-incorporates intermittent regressions as one component. Sentences unfold in a linear sequence, but the messages they convey often do not. Some looking back is also inevitable because of the nature of language. They don’t only occur because a text has been misread they also allow readers to enhance their understanding beyond what could be obtained on the first pass. But, like phonology, regressive eye movements serve a useful function, and eliminating them makes it harder to read, not easier. Method 3: Eliminate Regressive Eye Movements Read it right the first time. Speed-reading schemes would improve reading by eliminating one of the main sources of reading skill. These what-ifs are indeed the case, as established by several decades of research. What if the inability to use phonological information efficiently is one of the main characteristics of reading impairments? What if skilled readers cannot prevent themselves from activating phonological information because it is so deeply integrated with spelling and meaning in writing systems and in the neural circuits that support reading? Using the phonological code doesn’t limit the reader to the rate at which speech can be produced because there’s no speaking involved. The fallacy in the argument against subvocalization is in equating phonology with speech. However, skilled readers do something different: they mentally activate the phonological code that allows one to hear the differences between PERmit and perMIT in the mind’s ear. The sensation that you use information related to the pronunciations of words while you read is not an illusion. 1,680 letters/6 (five letters per word plus a space) = 280 words per minute.240 fixations × 7 letters per fixation = 1,680 letters per minute. ![]() 4 fixations per second = 240 fixations per minute Words in most texts are about five letters long on average.Fixation durations average around 200 to 250 milliseconds (4 to 5 per second).About 7 to 8 letters are read clearly on each fixation.But let’s just do some cold, hard calculations based on facts about the properties of eyes and texts. Reading speed is obviously going to depend on factors such as readers’ skills and goals and whether they are reading Richard Feynman’s lectures on physics or TMZ.com. ![]() You could read as much as a book critic for the New York Times. ![]() We think everyone else reads faster than we do, that we should be able to speed up, and that it would be a huge advantage if we could. The late Nora Ephron famously felt badly about her neck, but that’s minor compared to how people feel about their reading.
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