Games - Speed reading

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	Games - Speed reading

Speed reading is a method of reading rapidly by assimilating several words or phrases at a glance or by skimming.

Speed reading or rapid reading is a selective reading process in which a reader increases their reading rate while attempting to retain as much reading comprehension of the text as possible. Courses and books on speed reading, often sold through popular psychology literature, tend to promote limited skimming habits rather than comprehension or retention. While this method increases reading speed it results in a significant decrease in reading comprehension (under 50%) compared to normal reading for comprehension (over 75%), and is under normal circumstances inappropriate for studying or learning new material. Still, it has been demonstrated that reading with the equivalent of 1,000 words per minute (wpm) with a 100% comprehension is possible (at least in an informational point of view) by reading at 2,000 wpm with 50% comprehension (Allyn & Bacon, 1987) even if it is debatable that the end result is the same (for example by reading the same book 2 times in this fashion).

Someone who speed reads is called a "speed reader", or "super reader".

History

The psychologists and educational specialists working on the visual acuity question devised what was later to become an adopted icon of early speed reading courses, the tachistoscope. The tachistoscope is a machine designed to flash images at varying rates on a screen. The experiment started with large pictures of aircraft being displayed for participants. The images were gradually reduced in size and the flashing-rate was increased. They found that, with training, an average person could identify minute images of different planes when flashed on the screen for only one-five-hundredth of a second. The results had implications for reading, and thus began the research into the area of reading improvement.

Using the same methodology, the U.S. Air Force soon discovered that they could flash four words simultaneously on the screen at rates of one five-hundredth of a second, with full recognition by the reader. This training demonstrated clearly that, with some work, reading speeds could be increased from reading rates to skimming rates. Not only could they be increased but the improvements were made by improving visual processing. Therefore, the next step was to train eye-movements by means of a variety of pacing techniques in an attempt to improve reading. The reading courses that followed used the tachistoscope to increase reading speeds, and assumed that readers were able to increase their effective speeds from 200 to 400 words per minute using the machine. The drawback to the tachistoscope was that post-course timings showed that, without the machine, speed increases rapidly diminished.

Following the tachistoscope discoveries, the Harvard Business School produced the first film-aided course, designed to widen the reader’s field of focus in order to increase reading speed. Again, the focus was on visual processing as a means of improvement. Using machines to increase people's reading speeds was the trend of the 1940s. While it had been assumed that reading speed increases of 100% were possible and had been attained, lasting results had yet to be demonstrated. It was not until the late 1950s that a portable, reliable and 'handy' device would be developed as a tool for promoting reading speed increases.

The researcher this time was a school-teacher named Evelyn Wood. Not only did she promote the area of speed reading, but she committed her life to the business of promoting reading and learning development. Her discovery came about somewhat by accident. She had been committed to understanding why some people were naturally faster than others, and was trying to force herself to read very quickly. While brushing off the pages of the book she had thrown down in despair, she discovered, quite accidentally, that the sweeping motion of her hand across the page caught the attention of her eyes, and helped them move more smoothly across the page.

That was the day she utilized the hand as a pacer, and called it the "Wood Method." Not only did Mrs. Wood use her hand-pacing method, but she combined it with all of the other knowledge she had discovered from her research about reading and learning, and she introduced a method of learning, called Reading Dynamics in 1958.

More recently, speed reading courses and books have been developed promising the consumer even higher increases in reading speed, some at 10,000 words per minute with high comprehension. With specific reference to pseudoscience concepts, they have even claimed to be able to extract meaning out of consciously unnoticed text from the para-consciousness or subconscious. These courses go by various titles such as photo-reading (1994), mega-speedreading (1997) and alpha-netics (1999). They tend to be accompanied with the sale of expensive electronic machinery, or mind altering accessories. Reading experts refer to them as snake oil reading lessons due to their high dependence on the suspension of the consumer’s disbelief.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Speed reading ]

Games - Speed reading

History

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