The Science Behind Reading Speed - College Info Geek

Summary

This video dives into the myths and realities of speed reading, debunking exaggerated claims of reading 1,200 words per minute or more. It explains the science behind how reading works, focusing on eye movements like saccades and fixations, and highlights that most people read between 200-400 words per minute. The video emphasizes that comprehension decreases significantly at higher speeds, making speed reading essentially skimming. The presenter promises future videos on realistic ways to improve reading speed without sacrificing understanding.

Takeaways

• 📚 Reading books is highly beneficial, packed with knowledge, and can be enjoyed at varying speeds.
• 🤔 Speed reading is often marketed with exaggerated claims, like reading 1,200 words per minute, which is mostly unrealistic.
• 👀 Reading involves several types of eye movements, including saccades, which are quick, jerky movements when reading silently.
• 🎯 Fixations, where the eye stops to focus on text, are critical for reading comprehension, especially within the foveal vision range.
• ⏳ The average fixation duration when reading is about 225 milliseconds, and comprehension pauses range from 300 to 500 milliseconds.
• 🧠 Your brain’s working memory can only process about four chunks of information at a time, affecting how quickly and effectively you can read.
• 📈 Reading speed varies depending on the difficulty of the material, with more complex texts requiring slower reading for better comprehension.
• ❌ Speed reading at rates above 400-500 words per minute often leads to a significant loss of comprehension, essentially turning into skimming.
• 💡 The ideal reading speed for most people is between 200 and 400 words per minute, which balances speed and comprehension.
• 🚫 Techniques claimed to drastically increase reading speed without losing comprehension are generally misleading, and careful, flexible reading is more effective.

Q & A

What are the primary types of eye movements mentioned in the script?

The primary types of eye movements mentioned are smooth pursuit (tracking a moving object), vergence (eyes moving closer to focus on a subject), vestibular eye movement (eyes fixed on a subject while the head moves), and saccades (quick, jerky movements used when reading).

What is the significance of saccades in the reading process?

Saccades are crucial for reading as they are the quick, jerky movements that our eyes make when moving from one part of the text to another. They help position the eyes for fixation on the next part of the text.

How does fixation contribute to the reading process?

Fixation occurs when the eyes stop to focus on the text, allowing for cognitive processing of the information. The average duration of a fixation is about 225 milliseconds, although it can range from 100 to 500 milliseconds.

What are the three ranges of vision involved in reading?

The three ranges of vision are foveal (center of the retina, high detail), parafoveal (extends about five degrees from the fixation point, lower detail), and peripheral (blurry, picks up shapes and movement).

Why is comprehension affected by reading speed?

Comprehension is affected by reading speed because the brain can only process a limited amount of information at a time. Reading too quickly can overload working memory, leading to a loss of understanding.

What is the relationship between reading speed and comprehension?

There is an inverse relationship between reading speed and comprehension. As reading speed increases, comprehension typically decreases, especially beyond 400-500 words per minute, which is considered the upper limit for effective reading.

What is the realistic average reading speed for most people?

Most people read between 200 and 400 words per minute. Reading speeds above this range usually come at the cost of comprehension.

What role does regression play in reading?

Regression is the process of going back to re-read previously read text, either to correct long saccades or to reprocess material that wasn't fully understood. Skilled readers spend about 15% of their reading time on regressions.

How do content and function words differ in terms of fixation during reading?

Readers fixate on about 85% of content words, which express the main ideas, and only about 35% of function words, which express grammatical relationships. Content words are crucial for understanding, while function words are often skipped or processed quickly.

What is the main critique of speed reading presented in the script?

The main critique is that speed reading is essentially skimming, which sacrifices comprehension for speed. Claims of reading at extremely high speeds (e.g., 1,200 words per minute) are likely exaggerated and result in a significant loss of comprehension.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Enthusiastic Reader's Speed Reading Pitch

The speaker humorously shares his passion for reading and introduces a speed reading course, claiming to possess secret techniques passed down from a kung fu master. The exaggerated claims about reading 18 books a week, along with the offer of a course for a mix of easy and hard payments, set a playful tone. The speaker transitions to discussing the popular but questionable idea of drastically increasing reading speed, promising to clarify the reality in a series of videos.

05:01

👀 Understanding Eye Movements in Reading

The speaker dives into the science of reading, emphasizing the importance of eye movement. He explains various types of eye movements such as smooth pursuit, vergence, and vestibular eye movement. The focus is on 'saccades,' quick, jerky movements of the eyes when reading, and 'fixations,' where the eyes pause to absorb information. The description includes how different vision ranges (foveal, parafoveal, peripheral) affect reading, and introduces the concept of cognitive processing pauses, which are essential for comprehension.

🧠 The Brain's Role in Reading and Memory

The speaker explains the cognitive aspects of reading, focusing on how the brain processes information during reading. He discusses the limitations of working memory, which can only handle about four chunks of information at a time. The size of these chunks depends on the reader's familiarity with the material. The speaker highlights that reading too quickly can reduce comprehension and emphasizes the balance between reading speed and understanding. He concludes by outlining the three-step process of reading: saccades, fixations, and cognitive processing.

📖 The Reality of Reading Speed

The speaker critiques the unrealistic claims of speed reading, particularly the idea that one can read at 1,200 words per minute without losing comprehension. Citing research from psycholinguist Keith Rayner, the speaker clarifies that the average college-level reader reads between 200 and 400 words per minute. He introduces the concept of reading flexibility, where reading speed should vary depending on the difficulty and familiarity of the material. The speaker argues that after a certain point, increased reading speed leads to decreased comprehension, essentially equating speed reading with skimming.

🔍 Conclusion and Next Steps in the Speed Reading Series

The speaker wraps up the video by reinforcing that reading at 200 to 400 words per minute is normal and effective. He mentions his friend Shane, who reads three to five books a week at an average pace, as a realistic example. The speaker cautions against speed reading techniques that claim to boost reading speed beyond 400-500 words per minute, as they often sacrifice comprehension. He teases upcoming videos in the series that will explore common speed reading techniques and how to genuinely increase reading speed. The video ends with a call to action to subscribe, check out additional resources, and connect on social media.

Keywords

💡Saccades

Saccades are rapid, jerky movements of the eyes as they jump from one point of focus to another. In the context of reading, saccades help move the eyes across the text. The video mentions that during silent reading, the average saccade length is about two visual degrees, which translates to roughly eight letters on a page. Understanding saccades is crucial to understanding how the eyes process written information.

💡Fixation

A fixation is a brief pause when the eyes stop moving and focus on a particular part of the text. In reading, fixations allow the brain to process the visual information received from the text. The average duration of a fixation during silent reading is about 225 milliseconds, but it can range from 100 to 500 milliseconds. Fixations are a key part of the reading process, as they determine how much information is gathered from the text.

💡Foveal vision

Foveal vision refers to the small central area of the retina that provides the sharpest vision and is essential for reading. It covers about two visual degrees and is where most detailed information is processed during reading. The video explains that most of the understanding of text during reading occurs within the foveal range, making it critical for reading comprehension.

💡Parafoveal vision

Parafoveal vision surrounds the foveal area, extending about five degrees on either side of a fixation. While it can detect some details, it is less precise than foveal vision. In reading, parafoveal vision helps the reader anticipate the next few words or letters, aiding in smoother reading transitions. The video highlights its role in processing text that is adjacent to the current fixation point.

💡Peripheral vision

Peripheral vision is the outermost area of vision, responsible for detecting shapes and movement but not fine details. During reading, peripheral vision is less involved in processing text directly but helps in navigating the page and maintaining spatial awareness. The video contrasts peripheral vision with foveal and parafoveal vision to explain how different parts of the visual field contribute to reading.

💡Cognitive processing

Cognitive processing refers to the mental activities involved in understanding and interpreting the text after the eyes fixate on it. This includes working memory and comprehension. The video emphasizes that cognitive processing time is a critical component of reading speed and that faster reading can lead to lower comprehension if the cognitive load is too high.

💡Working memory

Working memory is the part of short-term memory that is actively used to hold and process information. In the context of reading, it is used to retain and understand chunks of information from the text. The video explains that working memory can handle about four chunks of information at a time, and this limitation affects reading speed and comprehension.

💡Reading speed

Reading speed is the rate at which a person reads, typically measured in words per minute (WPM). The video discusses the realistic range for most readers, which is between 200 and 400 WPM. It argues that claims of significantly higher speeds often come at the cost of comprehension, making true speed reading more akin to skimming.

💡Regression

Regression in reading refers to the act of going back to re-read a word or passage that was previously read. This can happen when a saccade overshoots its target or when the reader needs to clarify or better understand the material. The video notes that skilled readers spend about 15% of their reading time on regressions, highlighting its role in ensuring comprehension.

💡Reading flexibility

Reading flexibility is the ability to adjust reading speed based on the difficulty and familiarity of the material. The video argues that a fixed reading speed is unrealistic, as readers naturally slow down for complex or unfamiliar content and speed up for easier or well-known material. This concept challenges the notion that faster reading is always better, emphasizing the importance of comprehension.

Highlights

The speaker humorously claims to have learned secret speed reading techniques from a 22nd degree black belt kung fu master.

The idea of drastically increasing reading speed through speed reading techniques has been around for a long time.

The speaker aims to set the record straight on speed reading and discusses the science of how reading actually works.

Eye movement is crucial for reading, with specific types like saccades, smooth pursuit, and vestibular eye movement playing roles.

The foveal vision, which picks up detail, is critical for understanding text during reading.

The average fixation during reading takes about 225 milliseconds, though it can vary between 100 and 500 milliseconds.

Reading speed is influenced by cognitive processing time, and working memory can only handle about four chunks of information at once.

Pauses for comprehension during reading typically take between 300 and 500 milliseconds.

Skilled readers spend about 15% of their reading time on regressions, where they go back to re-read previous content.

Most people read between 200 and 400 words per minute, which is the norm for college-level readers.

Claims of reading speeds above 500 words per minute often result in a significant loss of comprehension.

Reading flexibility is essential; people naturally adjust their reading speed based on the difficulty of the material.

Speed reading is essentially skimming, with an inverse relationship between speed and comprehension.

The speaker concludes that if you're reading at 200-400 words per minute, you're fine and within the norm.

The speaker plans to debunk common speed reading techniques in future videos and offer tips for realistically increasing reading speed.

Transcripts

Just finished reading my sixth book this week!

Man, I just love reading books, 'cause they're so

like, packed full of knowledge, you know?

Luckily for me, I know secret speed reading

techniques passed down from a 22nd degree

black belt kung fu master who reached

enlightenment by eating an entire library.

And if you wanna learn those same secrets

and read 18 books a week, just like me,

take my speed reading course.

Only 14 easy payments, and one hard payment of 19.99!

Tax, title, license fee, shipping, handling,

and itching powder removal fee not included.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to

gaining vast amounts of knowledge.

(hardcore dance music)

Ok, let's be real here.

The idea that you could learn to speed read,

that is, learn to drastically increase your reading speeds

and plow through more books than you ever thought possible

has been around for quite a long time.

If you're in college, you'll probably see a flyer on

campus at some point advertising a speed reading seminar

that can teach you how to read at 900 words per minute,

1,200 words per minute, or even beyond that, and

countless bloggers have talked about the supposed

techniques you can use to learn how to speed read.

And so much of it is BS.

So I wanted to create a little series to set

the record straight on speed reading, and also show

you how you can actually realistically increase your

reading speeds, and what I want to do with this video

in particular is lay out the science of

how reading actually works.

Now, reading is possible through, wait for it, eye movement.

I know, crazy, right? But there are actually several

different types of eye movement.

For instance, there's something called smooth pursuit,

which our eyes do when we're tracking a moving subject.

And you can do it right now, just follow my finger

on screen, and you might be feeling a little bit sleepy,

which, in that case, (coughs) give me all your money.

There's also vergence, which is what happens

when your eyes move closer together to focus on

a subject in the middle of your field of vision,

and also something called vestibular eye movement,

which is what happens when your eyes are fixed upon

a fixed subject, but your head moves, and your eyes

compensate for the head movement.

When reading, though, our eyes move in quick,

jerky movements called saccades.

When we're reading silently to ourselves,

the average saccades length is about two visual degrees,

which equates to about eight letters on a page.

And this takes about 30 milliseconds to do.

Now, when your eye stops and focuses on

the text, that's called a fixation.

To understand fixations, first you need to know

about the three ranges of vision your eyes have.

First, there's the foveal, which spans about

two visual degrees right in the center of the retina,

then the parafoveal, which goes about five degrees

on either side of any given fixation,

and finally, your peripheral vision.

Your peripheral vision is pretty blurry,

you can make out shapes and movement,

but it can't really pick up a whole lot of detail.

The foveal, by contrast, picks up detail really well,

and this is absolutely critical for reading.

Most of what you can understand in any given fixation

needs to be in that foveal range.

Maybe one or two letters can be in

the parafoveal range, but that's it.

And the average fixation when you're reading silently

takes about 225 milliseconds, though this is an average.

The range is typically anywhere from

100 milliseconds to 500 milliseconds.

Furthermore, your reading speed isn't

just determined by fixations and saccades.

There's also the actual cognitive processing time

that you have to go through in order to

understand what you just read.

We'll get more into cognition and how your brain learns

in future videos, but for now, I wanna make a brief note

about your working memory, which is

what you're using when you read.

Research has shown that our working memory can really

only handle about four chunks of

information at any given time,

a chunk being a bundle of information that

is loosely connected through meaning.

Chunks for difficult material or things you're

unfamiliar with will be small, whereas chunks for things

that you are familiar with will be bigger,

but for both, the concept here is the same.

Your brain can only handle so many at a time,

and reading too quickly can result in

a loss of comprehension.

That being said, a good figure to keep in mind

is that pauses for comprehension while you're reading

will generally take between 300 and 500 milliseconds.

So essentially, reading breaks down

into a three-step process, we have the

saccade that moves on to the fixation,

and finally, the cognitive processing pause.

Now, even though we have average duration data

for all three of these things, it's not like we can just

add it up together and get an average reading speed.

A number of other factors come into play,

including the fact that when we read we actually skip

a lot of the words on the page.

Words can be separated into two different types,

there's content words, the words that actually

express the ideas you're reading about,

and function words, words that express

the grammatical relationships between those content words.

Research has shown that readers fixate on

about 85% of the content words in any given text,

while they only focus on about 35% of the function words.

On the other hand, reading also includes a lot of

regression, going back to read over previously read words.

Some regressions are small corrections when

a saccade's distance is too long, whereas longer

regressions will be to go over material that you already

read once, but didn't really understand the first time.

For skilled readers, about 15% of their reading time

will be made up of these regressions.

Now that you have a grasp of the main

factors that go into the process of reading,

let's look at what a realistic reading speed really is.

Some speed reading "experts" will tell you

that you can boost your reading rate

to around 1,200 words per minute,

which is a figure that many people cite

John F. Kennedy reading at, and some even say

you can get higher than that.

But, according to Keith Rayner, who's a psycholinguist

at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,

and who did a huge study on 20 years of research

in both eye movement tracking and reading speed studies,

observations of college level readers show that

most people read between 200 and 400 words per minute.

And lastly, there's the concept of

reading flexibility, a lot of the advice on speed reading

assumes that you should be reading at a constant rate,

but in the real world, this really isn't the case.

When you're reading something where the concepts

are presented more closely, or the material's

more difficult, you're gonna slow your

reading rate down so you can keep

understanding what it is you're reading.

And by contrast, when you're reading something

where the concepts are more spaced out,

or you're already familiar with what it is you're reading,

you can increase that reading rate without

a huge loss of comprehension.

So here's the final conclusion that I want you to

take from this first video in the speed reading series.

If you're reading between 200 and

400 words per minute already, you're in the norm.

You're fine.

My friend Shane, who runs the incredibly smart blog

Farnam Street, is a great example of this.

Shane reads about three to five books a week,

but he's very clear on his site that

he reads at an average pace.

Speed readers who claim that they can do

any more than 400, maybe 500 words per minute tops,

are doing so at a loss of comprehension.

In general, reading at lower comprehension rates

should be considered skimming.

And that's what speed reading is.

It's skimming.

After a certain reasonable point, you get an inverse

relationship between your reading speed

and your level of comprehension.

Which one is more important to you?

So, that is where we're gonna end this video,

if you'd like to dig a little bit deeper into

the research I did for it, I've linked to a lot of sources

in the companion blog post for this video,

so you can click the card right now,

or the link down in the description to read them.

Next week, we're gonna look at some of

the common techniques that speed readers

claim will increase your reading speed,

and see if there's any validity whatsoever to them,

and then after that, we're gonna do a video on

how you can actually increase your reading speeds.

So stay tuned for those videos coming in

the next couple of weeks, if you enjoyed this video,

giving it a like definitely helps this channel,

and I will see you in the next video.

(energetic dance music)

Hey guys, thanks so much for watching

this first video of my speed reading series.

Now, if you want to get new videos every single week

on being a more effective student,

including the further speed reading videos,

you can click that big red subscribe button right there.

Also, if you want to read a book on

how to earn better grades, I wrote one,

it's absolutely free, and I'll send you a copy

if you click a picture of the book right there!

Like I said, if you want to get the sources

that I used for the research in this video,

and there are a lot of them, as well as a summary,

you can go to the companion blog post

by clicking the orange logo right there!

Last week was a little bit more of a

philosophical video on how we should

give more appreciation to people in

all sorts of different jobs, so check that out if

you haven't seen it, and if you want to connect with me,

I'm on Twitter @TomFrankly,

or you can leave a comment below.

Thanks for watchin'!