I clearly remember when the teacher of primary school used to say to the class to "read in the mind", "to read in silence", to "read for ourselves". That way she was teaching us how to project with values. Since then I would associate reading like a personal moment. There were classmates doing whispers and sounds with their body that would sound disrespectful because the teacher didn't ask read for everybody. It probably is the reason why I love the public library that is strictly silent. I think that there is a virtual screen in our heads called "mind", and there is a virtual projector called ability, and a virtual author projecting called spirit .
Honestly I quite dislike this view of quietly whispering to one's self while reading since, rather than disrespectful, it is usually an important step for people who struggle with reading. It is also very useful to those who are having a hard time with annunciation or tonal stress.
Thankyou very much I think the tapping technique indeed allows me to have the benefits of speed reading while losing less comprehension than the standard 1-2-3 stuff I've been taught so far. Kudos to you!
Growing up I had a a speech impediment and during the reading literacy tests, they had portions where you read out loud. I failed so many times and was put into remedial reading classes in elementary. I never hated reading, I loved it. By 7th grade I was reading at a 12th grade level
Awesome - would love to know how it goes for you! Will be sharing more on the topic, since there's a lot of them things that seem most logical when you put them together, but are not necessarily very obvious, hah!
When I was very young I was a terrible reader. So much so that for two years I was frequently removed from class by a reading tutor for a one-on-one lesson. Eventually, I did get better at reading but was always very slow. I had a friend who was so speedy she could finish a book a day. Compared to her I still felt like I was an awful reader until I was about ten and sat a national reading comprehension test in which I got the highest score in my class despite not finishing. I'm still slow, but content.
That's really good! It means you are probably doing amazing work with being well focused while reading, which in my opinion is often more important than speed. Thank you for sharing!
I tend to be very thurough in general so I prefer comprehension over speed mainly. However I will admit there are times when I read something where I begin to notice a lot of fluff, recapping or redundant repitition. At which point I will supress subvocalization until I find something more crucial that requires my full attention
I usually read technologies related books so i have to comprehend while reading, so i formed a habit of fast reading with subvocalization. By doing this i am quite fast when reading the books and also able to comprehend clearly. But before doing that I try to skim through chapters which makes it much more comprehensive later.
Great video about speed reading! Here's my scenario though: I'm reading a fantasy book and it's purely for relaxation. Doesn't count for speed reading but I do mentally subvocalize to better imagine all the characters. This sometimes costs me my focus and I find myself not being able to recall what I read in the last 3 pages. I am, however, aware of what happened (generally) in the story, so it isn't quite a miss, but still. So I guess my question is: do these techniques help for speed reading only or do they improve our focus as well? Is mental subvocalization (in my case) a hindrance or something which helps me (as a reader) to actually relax?
What you are saying is very true. First - you nailed one of the reasons we subvocalize, which is to facilitate what we are reading, which in turn helps with having/creating more vivid imagery of the text as well. Second - what you are saying about focus is interesting because, if you think about it, it's not that you are not focused - on the contrary - you are focused, but it's not on the upcoming text your going over with your eyes, but rather an image or a thought that leads you (is leading you) elsewhere - and it's not until later that you realize that and refocus on the text. Now, to answer your question - I'd have to tell you that it depends - first and foremost on your goal for reading a text. If we are talking about reading for pure relaxation, than I wouldn't bother suppressing my subvocalization, unless I find a particular part too boring to read, yet not unimportant enough to skip. :D You can totally suppress subvocalization more if you are going over a text, whose general topic you are well acquainted with, yet you want to make sure that if you find something you are not necessarily knowledgeable of you are going to register it. This makes the opposite also true - if you want to learn something new from a text, especially if it's challenging - then you do want to read slower, and subvocalize because, as you already know, that can help a lot with making sense of it. Heck, you can even say things out loud. :D And if we are talking focus ... there's a lot to unpack here - but as a general thought, if any of these is to have a positive affect on focus it would be the tapping technique. It would be worth trying and observing when and to what degree it may assist you to refocus while reading. P.S. Your interest is much appreciated, thank you :)
I’m an impatient person sometimes and I try to read slow to comprehend but I end up getting distracted or passive read. How can I read more effectively and remember what I am reading?
Sir , i never speak while reading but i speak in my head while reading it decreases my reading speed alot but i have been doing since very long time. It's very difficult to eliminate subvocalizing while reading ... Can I eliminate it completely ?
I just tried the “counting 1, 2, 3” technique to eliminate subvocalisation for speedreading, and it does help me read faster I think (I haven’t time it yet), but I don’t like reading like this. I prefer to focus on the meaning of the words, absorb it, then move on. Rather than reading it so quickly. If I am bored of a book, I will speedread. If I am reading physiology, or science, I want to remember what I read so I take notes on interesting facts, and research done. Speed reading would impair that. I have a friend who kept talking about subvocalisation, and it seemed like he was spouting misinformation. So I decided to read up about it, and this video helped inform me about a little more why its considered undesireable in the speedreading community. Although I haven’t joined the speed reading train yet, I am kind of able to see where they’re coming from. Even though it doesn’t work for me personally.
i have a question, i have previously been under the impression that subvocalisation was vocalising it subconsciously but you are explaining it as physically vocalising it even if it doesn't make a sound. i may be wrong so I just wanted to know if I'm confused.
I been using tapping technique and it has helped me partially, my reading speed increased but comprehension skill is not. Some time I lost entire meaning of content. Is it natural 🤔
This has frustrated my efforts to read for years. I learned to read at an insanely young age. By the time I was two I was halfway through the Hrdy Boys books and blasting my way through comics. Mom did a hell of a job with us and she was told by my Catholic school princpal to to put me into third grade when I was five. Instead, fearing that it would do a job on me socially, she consented to sticking me in with the first graders, and letting me work with the eighth graders when the material would be too boring for me. I wound up being bored anyway, and still had all the nasty social issues that being even a single grade ahead of my age cohort caused without any of the benefit of skipping a grade. But mental verbalization of the text always frusttrated my efforts to increase my reading comprehenson, so I am grateful for the advice and I'll shut up now.
I’ve always read with my mouth closed completely but my tongue whipping around the inside of my mouth; but even so, I’ve always read books faster than most kids in my age at highschool were reading. Now I want to try to learn this skill too and It’s pretty exciting that I can learn to read even faster, which to someone who loves reading fiction is very pleasing.
That's nice to hear, Erick - it's amazing how much we can achieve when being consistent in our interests and deliberately developing our skills - best of luck on your journey! :)
Saying the words in your head is normal, and expected, because this is how we learned to read in the first place. The exact "how" of the technique are still debated. The good thing about science is that it can give you a general direction as to what works and what doesn't. The not so good is that it takes time to give a more definitive answer to things. The solution? Experiment. :) I have some additional observations based on my experience, and experimentation, so you can expect those in the future.
Subvocalisation is a natural process. So, the goal is not to stop it, just to tone it down slightly, so that your flow and rhythm of reading are lighter. Hope that helps.
Thank you for breaking down the different subvocalizations and also providing actionable techniques to work on this. So very much appreciated, means a lot!
well said...personally i feel that if people want to get better at reading, just read more and more .... its the same as jogging, if you want to get faster, jog more often and push yourself. and you will improve. non vocalisation is a bit like learning to type ... you just do it and get better at it until you do it without thought. with reading though comprehension is king....einstein wasnt concerned with speed reading, nor was tesla, and for those of you out there....please stop grouping the likes of warren buffet, bill gates, and elon musk with the likes of einstein and tesla...they should never be mentioned in the same sentence...buuilding computers and aircraft is akin to designing the mini skirt..it is not worthy of the word genius..... inventing the semiconducting transistor, maybe that should be associated with genius...but not a bloody iphone. built by about 100 designers who just mish mash genius tech together...its nothing new. the law of relativity is new. the invention of the cathode ray tube was new the discovery of penicillin was new.. the discovery that radio waves could be used to heat food is new the discovery of quantum computing is new all the above are genius. using quantum computing in a phone is just standing on the shoulders of giants. making a cheap pc is just standing on the shoulders of giants. windows was stolen from standing on the shoulders of hewlet packard spacex is just more advanced moon landings nothing new ...get over it people.
Because of my anxiety, I realized I kinda developed a second inner speech, whenever I try to focus on reading my inner speech always distracts me with random questions or thoughts, and sometimes completely unrelated topics. The hardest part is when intrusive imagination comes by and then I am completely lost and reading becomes really hard. I think it would be awesome to read without having to sub-vocalize, every time I sub-vocalize I always summon my second inner speech.
On the contrary, Erwin - I'd say that your "second inner speech" is a gift! It sounds like your brain and imagination are involved with the information you are reading - which is great! It just so happens that they high-jack your attention and take it in another direction. This sounds a lot like what we experience when we meditate - we focus but then thoughts come and take our attention away. The solution? Simply bring your focus back on the task at hand. My suggestion to you would be to: - Always have something next to you to write your "distracting" thoughts and ideas down - in doing so you can calm your mind's enthusiasm and come back to wherever it was taking you later. - In addition, consider developing a meditation practice - in doing so you will cultivate greater appreciation and a healthier attitude towards your mind's tendency to high-jack your attention. Keep it bright!
When I get distracted multiple times. I start reading the text out loud. It slows me down, but it keeps the momentum of reading going. When I sufficiently can concentrate again, I start going back to silent reading. A variation of the reading out loud technique, is to read out loud at double speed, but this takes training because you need to learn how to speak extremely quickly. Its easier to do at a low volume, and when I do this I ignore punctuation usually. This is at a cost because I can still read faster silently, than reading at double speed out loud. Once the focus is sufficient though, I can resume reading silently. Another trick I do while reading is to put the narrator voiceover on my phone or computer on, and I have it on double speed. Another trick I do is put organ music like Toccata and Fugue by Bach while reading. I find that can really help me read faster and it blocks out my inner thoughts, or synchronises it with the intense sounds. Also, going to a good library where other people are studying and not where there are a lot of noisy children around I’ve found extremely conducive to helping me focus. I am a lot less distracted in a library, and the environment of other people studying helps me focus.
I don’t understand how this doesn’t have more view. This is everything I’ve ever wanted from a video. Question, how do you research stuff like sub-vocalization, I already have trouble finding any info that’s an actual paper or something.
Just like with everything else I start with the search engines. For research materials you can check these: - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ - us.sagepub.com/ - www.researchgate.net/ - scholar.google.bg/ I guess I can do a video on my research process further down the road. :) And thank you - happy to know you are finding the value you are looking for!
Great video, very concise and informative! However, I found the over usage of j-cuts distracting. J-cuts are great for preventing monotony, but are best used sparingly (1-2x for a short video). You might want to use more jump cuts in its place, that way the video flows better. Anyway, keep up the good work
Thank you for this, Luci! I always found jump cuts to be more disruptive than j-cuts, but I will try to give them a better chance - thank you for the suggestion once more.
I feel kinda dumb. I read around 250 wpm with varied comprehension. The 1-2-3-4 thing increased that speed to 375 wpm after a half hour of practice with about 80% retention.
I do mental sub vocalization, but if tries to stop it, I may read things, but it hard to understand what did I read? words become symbols. so is it okay to read with sub vocalization?
i know this sounds weird but it actually works for me if i just keep saying "1, 2, 3" in my mind repeatedly as i read i dont say the word in my mind and actually read at like 17x speed its a life changer for me
I tried both techniques but I am getting too focused on counting and tapping that it is hard to focus and remember what I just read. I look at the word and I just can't comprehend what it means without hearing that little voice in my head say it. When I tried the counting method out loud, I would be talking and still hear the voice in my head read the words. Idk what to do anymore because I really want to get rid of it but nothing is working and it's just frustrating.
My question isn't rlly how to supress it, it is how to understand anything at all when supressing or just scanning words. Because I don't lose 10-20% as mentioned. I lose 100%
I wonder if the finger tapping helps reading faster is because of the rythm. When I tried the tapping out, i rad slower when I used a slower rythm, but faster when I tapped faster. I still "thought" the words i read though.
thanks a lot, just as you said I read about subvocalization being a bad thing, and I only do it mentally. Which is why for studying it's a good thing and shouldn't be eliminated, I guess
I guess my issue is different. I’ve always tended to mentally subvocalize but I’m such a slow reader. I also can never pay attention while reading therefore my comprehension is relatively low. I often reread the same paragraph several times before moving on because I would let my mind wander, or I’d be focusing too much on getting through it without my mind wandering that I basically have the words go through my head but my imagination stays be blank. This really sucks because I love stories and would love to write stories myself but my lack of reading skills gets in the way.
i like reading them in my head bc most of the books i read revolve around complex characters. I like to read in their voice, accent, and so on. lol but i do struggle sometimes with comprehension
Good information. I really don't think it's advantageous for me to suppress my mental subvocalization, due to time constraints with education vs the comprehension from it. I want to maintain a relatively decent comprehension as I become more abreast with the content and mentally file the information that I had processed.
Research on concurrent tapping has shown that it can be an effective tool for measuring cognitive load and attention. For example, a study published in the journal PLOS ONE in 2019 found that concurrent tapping was a reliable indicator of cognitive load during a reading comprehension task. The researchers found that participants who tapped their finger while reading had lower comprehension scores than those who didn't tap, suggesting that tapping consumed attentional resources that could have been used for comprehension.
I always want to read faster and my tongue and mouth doesn't move while reading. But I read everything in my mind and that lowers my speed and my mind always think that subvocalizing means running the eyes on the sentences of the book and that means zero comprehension. So, please can you explain how the running the eyes over the sentence is increase speed as well as comprehension? Thanks for the video. 😊
Hi, Suvarna! I am not sure if I understand your question as intended, but here are some suggestions. Subvocalization and the way you move your eyes across the text are two different things (although they may be connected). If you have some sort of a barrier with subvocalization try one of the mental subvocalization techniques from the video BUT with a text that is not super important to you right now. Because your mind will be "ok" not understanding while learning the technique you are actually allowing yourself to focus on the technique better and get a sense of what this different way of reading feels like. As to running eyes through the sentence - this is related to the saccades you do and there are different techniques you can use, and the most important thing remains not the speed, but the quality of focus with which you read. I will be sharing more on this! :) A common misconception is that by reading faster you can also get greater comprehension - this is not impossible but it's unlikely, because comprehension comes from focus, and speed is only an afterthought of the flow you are getting in. I will be sharing more, so hopefully I am able to provide you with the answers you need! P.S. Thank you for commenting! Whatever more questions you may have I am happy to see them, because it helps me with putting out more useful content for you! :)
@@howtogenius. Thank you so much for the information. From today onwards I'll try to be more focused and gradually increase my speed. Can't wait to see your next videos😍. Lots of love❤.
I can stop subvocalization a little bit by silently screaming ahh but I can't fully comprehend the text that I am speed reading. Is there any possible way to have the same comprehention skills while speed reading?
My reason for finding this was due to the very strict requirements of Pearson's proctored exams. If they see your lips moving (and mine always do), they kick you out of the exam and lose your money. Why do they do this? They claim that it stops cheaters who read the question to someone else in the room, or some other way (?). Anyway, if I can control this urge, which I've had most of my 55 years, I can take the online exams. I've been told I can get around that if I go to one of their physical testing centers. If I can't untrain this behavior, I'll have to opt for that. Thanks for this.
Subvocalization for me is hearing the word in my mind. No moving lips, nothing, i just hear my voice in my head saying the word. Some people can't do that (around 40-50% of the population~). However I can' turn this off, at all. I've tried, doesn't work for me. Just watching a word and i automatically hear my voice reading it.
Something relevant now is that you can essentially replace subvocalization with text-to-speech software. You don't need to subvocalize if your computer is vocalizing words for you. You can increase the speed and my pdf reader (pfd xchange editor) also highlights sentences and words as they are read to help with focus. I discovered this recently and it has dramatically increased my reading speed for grad school with minimal impact on comprehension. My understanding is that comprehension is usually improved by reading and hearing things at the same time (like subtitles on videos). Previous to that I heard that subvocalization was bad, but was never able to reduce it without dramatic losses in comprehension. Many of the people in the speed reading space are just scammers trying to get your money while giving you tips with similar quality to fitness influencers.
A sincere thank you to the creator for sharing valuable insights about subvocalization and how to eliminate it while reading. The video provides a clear explanation of how subvocalization affects reading speed and comprehension. I also appreciate the two different methods offered for reducing subvocalization, especially the use of fingers to minimize comprehension loss. I hope this video will help many people improve their reading skills effectively.
Then how do people get so fast at reading with great comprehension? Is the drawback less comprehension for the short term but as you practice diligently your comprehension rises?
I hope so. I mean i see no other way to be like that other than practice. I think once it becomes normalised in our brain, comprehension automatically starts increasing. I am not sure of this but i am trying to get better at this.
from the research ". Post hoc individual comparisons showed that concurrent tapping produced more errors in locating the asterisk than did no interference,"
Hold up, how do you count while reading without an inner monologue. I would get a mental break down if I tried. I'm supposed to be able to? (I have severe autism, no inner monologue and aphantasia)
When I was in my lower classes I used to visualise while reading in my head but then my teacher was like u need to use the voice in your head to study and after 5 years I can't read without my inner voice. 😭
Thank you. I think subvocalisation adds up to immersion and overall enjoyment. Though the world is so big and theres so much information, that I wish I could just scan through some stuff with sufficient comprehension.
for me reducing subvocalizations is very hard because I have synesthesia meaning my mind still has some connections that are usually not their in others around my age
Great video made me subscribe your channel instantly! Sad to see you stopped making videos. Your content is amazing! Please continue your work. This platform requires consistency and tons of patience.
I've had students who took anywhere from 2 hours to 2 week to better handle their subvocalization. That said, I'd avoid time metrics in the first place! Instead - focus on creating a reading routine where you dedicate time to practicing subvocalization control, along with the rest of your reading. Also, remember that you are reading either for pleasure and/or to learn something, so subvocalization reduction shouldn't be a mean to it's own end, but just a tool! Hope that helps.
Me too, the voice in my head is slowing me down a lot and its tiring and annoying. The tapping thing doesnt help me at all, as im always fidgetting anyways.
I'm unable to read without subvocalizing. I feel like I understand how I read, but I don't understand how to fix the problem. For example: - When I look at a car outside, I right away understand what it is, solely relying on vision. I just see it and right away understand what it is. the end. - When I read the word "car," the visual of it means nothing to me. It has no meaning what so ever. BUT my subconscious understands it, and reads it aloud for me. And the sound of the word has meaning again. When I hear it, I understand it. So I basically I have to hear the word. I for the life of me cannot understand a word without hearing it. So my brain has to go through this process for every word, before I can visualize it or do anything with it. So if I were to visualize a word the process goes as follows: 1. Look at word. 2. Hear the word in my head. 3. Understand the word from hearing it. 4. Then visualize it. But I've come to understand that some people can get the meaning straight from the visual of the word, like I can also do with everyday objects (just not with words). I just for the life of me cannot figure out how to do it, it just seems impossible to look at a word and to understand what it is before hearing it in your mind first.
Can you expand more on reading for meaning vs word? What is your strategy here? It feels when reading for meaning you might need to slow down quite a bit to let it sink in... I guess on my case that i am reading about electromagnetism it might just not workout but for general reading.. do you have any tips?
@@howtogenius. I speak English as a second language, and I have an issue with mental subvocalization in English only. It makes it hard to read books, and it is also frustrating that I cannot stop it. Thanks so much for the great video.
I am not an English native too, so I understand your struggle (especially when starting out). I hope this and the other speed-reading videos I published provide you with enough value and insight for now. Right now I am diversifying the content a bit, but I will be posting more on speed-reading and reading in general soon enough. :)
