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  • This video is sponsored by Audible.

  • Wouldn't school be so much easier if you could get through all those tedious reading

  • assignments three times faster?

  • Wouldn't it be so much more fun to dive into a good piece of fiction and blast through

  • it in less than a day?

  • Let's talk speed reading.

  • What's going on guys!

  • Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.

  • If you've already looked into speed reading, you are probably aware that there are two

  • camps of thought.

  • One group of people say speed reading is a magic cure-all, everything you ever dreamed

  • of, and more.

  • The other group says speed reading is baloney and doesn't actually work.

  • As with most things in life, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

  • In approaching speed reading, the first question you have to ask yourself iswhat is the

  • reason I want to read faster?”

  • If you want to go through novels or read for pleasure quicker, that requires one approach.

  • If you want to read through textbooks or research articles and understand hard science quicker,

  • that requires a different approach.

  • Before we jump into the techniques, however, it's critical that we first understand the

  • process of reading to have it work in our favor.

  • What is reading?

  • Reading is the processing of text to understand the intended meaning of the piece of writing.

  • Therefore, in order to successfully read, it requires more than just recognizing a series

  • of words, but also understanding the relationships among them and the unstated implications involved

  • in the described situation.

  • Contrast this with skimming, which is the quick consumption of text to get a general

  • idea, at the cost of comprehension.

  • Speed reading attempts to maintain skim-like reading speeds with reading-like comprehension.

  • This wouldn't be a Med School Insiders video without getting into the science.

  • The average educated adult reads at approximately 200-400 word per minute.

  • Speed readers claim to read thousands of words per minute.

  • In order to do so, they rely on peripheral vision.

  • Acuity is highest in the fovea, which is the center of your visual field, approximately

  • in any direction.

  • This amounts to approximately the width of your thumb held out at arm's length.

  • The parafovea has moderate acuity at 1-5° from the center, and the periphery is greater

  • thanfrom the center of vision.

  • The bad news is that it is biologically and physiologically speaking, it is impossible

  • to recognize and interpret text in one's peripheral vision.

  • Try reading by staring at one word and complehending the sorounding words in your peripheral vision.

  • It's not gonna work!

  • Try looking at a stationary object, like this line.

  • Try to smoothly move your eyes from one side of the line to the other.

  • It's actually physically impossible.

  • Your eyes will move in multiple smaller jerky movements called saccades.

  • Saccades are quick eye movements that occur while reading, allowing the reader to fixate

  • the fovea on a word.

  • I initially thought that speed readers employ smooth pursuit.

  • This is when your eyes fixate on a moving object and can follow it smoothly, like tracking

  • a target.

  • As you watch this circle moving from one side of the screen to the other, your eyes can

  • actually smoothly persue it without those jerky saccades movements.

  • However, I learned that the reason speed readers use their finger is less about smooth pursuit

  • and more about keeping a metronomic guide to maintain a rapid pace of reading.

  • Saccades allow the fovea to fixate on the next word.

  • Each fixation lasts approximately 250 milliseconds, but this is highly variable based on the legibility

  • of the text, difficulty, and task goals, such as proofreading versus reading for comprehension

  • or skimming.

  • However, not every word is fixated on.

  • For example, the wordtheis skipped about half the time.

  • Just because a word is skipped does not mean that it was not processed at all.

  • Because each reader is unique in terms of the timing and sequence of words that he or

  • she needs to look at, speed reading technologies like rapid serial visual processing (RSVP)

  • are not effective.

  • These technologies attempt to present each word in the center of the visual field in

  • a rapid progression, eliminating the need for eye movements.

  • Taking into account the aforementioned individual variations, the physiology of visual processing,

  • and the way we comprehend language, I would argue that RSVP is a terribly ineffective

  • method to consume text.

  • Another problem with RSVP is that it does not allow for regressions.

  • Regressions are brief looks backward in text to return to an earlier word.

  • This is important in correcting errors in comprehension.

  • By eliminating the possibility of regressions, RSVP further reduces comprehension.

  • Now, reading and processing language is much more complex than most realize.

  • Take this stroop task.

  • Try naming the color of the text of each of this words.

  • Not too bad, right?

  • How about this column?

  • Maybe you're marginally slower but that still wasn't too bad.

  • How about now?

  • It takes much longer to correctly name the color when the word describing the color is

  • miss-matched to the color of the text.

  • Let's talk about subvocalization.

  • Many proponents of speed reading claim that subvocalization, which is using the inner

  • speech in your head while reading, will slow you down.

  • A series of studies examined the effects of eliminating or minimizing subvocalization

  • using a variety of techniques.

  • Findings consistently demonstrated decreased comprehension.

  • Given that all writing systems represent words and given that the primary form of language

  • is vocal and not visual, it makes sense that phonological processing is an important part

  • of reading and comprehension.

  • So what does this all mean?

  • Visual perception occurs rapidly.

  • However, linguistic processing is the bottleneck in reading.

  • Multiple studies support the fact that language processing, rather than the ability to control

  • eye movements, is the primary determinant of reading speed.

  • Reading is limited by our ability to identify and understand words rather than our ability

  • to see them.

  • That means reading faster leads to reduced comprehension.

  • Now that we've clarified the science behind reading and speed reading, let's figure

  • out how to actually read faster.

  • The central idea in reading faster is that one does not need to read the same way for

  • every reading goal.

  • Some suggest to simply practice reading more as a way to improve one's speed and comprehension.

  • While it does help, it's a very slow and gradual process, not causing any drastic improvements.

  • To more drastically improve speed, we have to reduce comprehension.

  • To increase comprehension, we have to read slower.

  • There is no way around that.

  • However, our job then becomes how to optimize the balance between reading comprehension

  • and reading speed.

  • How can we reduce comprehension minimally while increasing speed maximally?

  • Here are the techniques I have found most useful over the years: First, determine the

  • type of reading you will perform and what your goal is.

  • You do not need to maximize comprehension for every reading task.

  • Are you reading a piece of non-fiction for pleasure?

  • Are you proof reading an essay for a friend?

  • Are you reading a textbook for class?

  • Deliberately approaching reading with a goal in mind will help you determine the minimum

  • level of comprehension required and therefore the maximum speed achievable.

  • Second, remember to be flexible with your speed.

  • While reading, there will be segments of text that are easy for you.

  • The language is simple, you understand the concepts, and you're easily able to fly

  • through it.

  • You don't have to stop on every word and understand it deeply.

  • Other sections will introduce new words or concepts and you will have to slow down to

  • make sense of it.

  • Understand that this will happen frequently, and you must be flexible with your reading

  • speed to optimize your speed/comprehension balance.

  • The first and last sentences of a paragraph are often most important, so focus on those

  • if you're unsure about the importance of the paragraph.

  • This is very similar to Cal Newport Pseudo-skimming techniques Next, use a pacer, like your finger

  • or a pen.

  • Run your pacer below each line from end to end, and have your eyes follow along.

  • This will instantly increase your reading speed while with minimized comprehension loss.

  • The key is finding the sweet spot where you are only minimizing comprehension loss, but

  • are pushing the limits of your comfort zone.

  • For example, if you reduce comprehension by 10% but gain 50% in speed, that's not a

  • bad tradeoff in my opinion.

  • As above, there will be sections where you want to move your pacer faster and other sections

  • where you will want to move slower.

  • Now, let's talk about SPECIFIC TYPES OF READING.

  • For Textbooks, they often have large sections of superfluous text.

  • Don't be afraid to skip these paragraphs or even entire sections.

  • Focus on bolded words and sections that contain key information, and slow down on the surrounding

  • text that adds additional context.

  • Another cool tip is Pre-reading sections by thumbing through the chapter and looking at

  • section headings and bolded terms will prime you know what is important.

  • It may take a minute or two at the beginning, but overall you should safe time if executed

  • properly.

  • Mtyt favourite tip for textbooks is, after I read a section or a page, I'll stop and

  • summarize what I learned.

  • I will do this out-loud to myself or with a friend or by writing a few bullet points.

  • This drastically improves retention.

  • On to Books for Pleasure.

  • If reading for pleasure, you can do whatever you want.

  • If you want to enjoy the nuances of the author's language, then slow down.

  • However, if you want to get the gist and the overall story, it's not a problem to have

  • your comprehension drop substantially.

  • This very much depends on the book.

  • For some books I slow down and read every book, and for others I skip sections.

  • Most books fall somewhere in the middle.

  • And lastly lets talk about Research Articles.

  • When reading research articles, which you will have to do plenty of as a pre-med, med

  • student, and resident, approach them systematically.

  • Read the abstract slowly and carefully, but then determine what is important to have a

  • greater understanding of and focus you time and energy there.

  • I often read the abstract, quickly go through some of the introduction paragraphs, skim

  • the methods and results sections to get just a brief high yield points, and then spend

  • more time in the conclusion.

  • Another option is to skip reading all together and opt for Audio Books.

  • My go to service is Audible.

  • The great thing about Audible and listening to books rather than reading them is that

  • you can free up so much more time to actually consume the book.

  • Ultimately, that's what speed reading is all about, being able to consume more books or

  • the same number of books but much more rapidly.

  • I can listen in the morning while making and eating breakfast, I can listen while driving

  • or riding my bike, I can listen while stretching or even during a workout.

  • I recently listened to Aziz Ansari Modern Romance.

  • The best part was that it was narrated by Aziz her self, which makes for a tremendous

  • entertaining and enjoyable listening experience.

  • Audible includes an unmatched selection of audio books, original audio shows, news, comedy

  • and more from the leading audio book publishers, broadcasters and entertainers and more.

  • Go to Audible.com/MedSchoolInsiders or text MedSchoolInsiders to 500-500 to get an exclusive

  • 30 day free trial and a book of your choice for free.

  • Thank you all so much for watching.

  • If you enjoyed the video, make sure you press that like button.

  • Hit subscribe if you have not already and I will see you guys in that next one.

This video is sponsored by Audible.

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