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  • Speed reading and how we vocalize.

    It has been told that the volume of information we receive in our time increases exponentially almost everyday. This is true since it is a compound-interest type of calculation.

    For every article written by an author, a few hundred people will read it and most likely disseminate it in one form or another to the rest of his distribution list of friends, family, office mates, etc. Information travels at the speed of thought.

    For every click of the mouse and keystroke on the keyboard, we’re transmitting and receiving information. A large majority of the information we receive through our senses is visual. We read more than we speak. This is closely followed by our hearing and the rest of our senses.

    Toffler posited a few decades back that humanity is in its Information Age. He states that this is the time when the mind is most used to get ahead in today’s life. However, there is a problem with information. There’s just too much information for the mind to process all at once. This overload of information to the human senses is coined by Toffler as future shock.

    Humanity has devised ways to cope with the large influx of data. He created systems of managing information like ledgers, filing systems, databases and libraries. He made machines that crunch numbers for him like the calculator, computer, cash register, etc. He enlisted other people to specialize in a branch of information like librarians, database programmers, encoders, etc.

    However, the capacity of the individual to receive information has remained more or less the same. Biology left alone can only move at Mother Nature’s pace. This has led to efforts in the scientific community to find ways to increase memory retention and comprehension in individuals. Research by the US government and universities led to the practice of rapid reading methods like speed reading.

    Speed reading is a method of reading that emphasizes quickly skimming through the passages of literature while retaining comprehension of the subject matter. At normal speeds, we read with a high enough comprehension level at 75%. Speed reading claims to be able to increase the reading speed up to about 1,000 words per minute, though some claim comprehension rate is about 50%.

    There are numerous types and techniques of speed reading. As side from reading quickly, students of speed reading are asked to breathe from the diaphragm, relax, and adopt a mental state that takes in all he is reading.

    Here is still another method of speed reading developed by a school teacher named Evelyn Wood. The “Wood Method” makes use of the hand as a pacing and focusing device. The eye would remain focused on the word where the hand is placed. Speeds of up to a thousand words a minute were claimed to have been reached with full comprehension.

    Scientific studies of speed reading have shown that asking people to read at a faster pace will only increase comprehension to a limited degree. The ideal reading speed recommended by the scientific community that maximizes comprehension is at 200 to 350 words per minute, far below the 1,000 words per minute mark of speed readers.

    One major hindrance claimed by advocates of speed reading is the natural ability to humans to vocalize text. Termed as subvocalization, it is the internal or subvocalized speech made when reading. It is a comprehension aid as humans imagine the way words sound as they read through text.

    Subvocalization reduces the load of work placed on the cognitive functions of the brain, and gives access to other meanings to a given subject. This is a natural process in humans and attempts to reduce subvocalization in studies resulted in an impaired ability to learn and comprehend.

    It is actually impossible for a human to totally stop subvocalization. Biologically, words seen are associated with the way words sound. This neurological memory aid makes sure that we retrieve information faster as well as remember words more swiftly. At any rate, subvocalization only slows down reading when it involves movement of the throat, mouth and jaw.

    Furthermore, a person’s educational level, level of language fluency, eyesight, and general mental state has to be taken into account. Any impairment mentioned above severely affects the ability of the person to comprehend reading even at lower speeds.

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