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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Do not rely on the three speed reading techniques the video tests (enlarging fixation areas, eliminating subvocalization, and rapid serial visual presentation apps like Spritz and Spreeder) for reading to learn or comprehend; the video says research shows all three are unlikely to work for that purpose. The speaker says these tools may still help with quick scanning, such as texts, emails, or finding the gist of something.
Key Points
- Enlarging fixation areas: Readers can only comprehend text within or very near their foveal range, so reading text in peripheral vision does not work. A 1987 study found only one correct answer out of 30 test cases where text was three letter spaces or more from a fixation point.
- The 1962 claim of 10,000 words per minute with six fixations per page lacked any formal comprehension measure, so the speaker considers it unsupported.
- Subvocalization: Research indicates reading is tied to auditory language processing. When researchers tried to suppress subvocalization (by playing a tone when it was detected, or by having readers hum), comprehension dropped.
- RSVP apps present every word, which makes working memory the bottleneck. Readers normally skip function words and fixate on content words, a selective process RSVP removes.
- RSVP apps also prevent regressions (rereading), which Elizabeth Schotter's 2014 study found is integral to high comprehension, and the software cannot predict when rereading is needed.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: The video gives no step-by-step method for faster reading. Its only actionable guidance is to use RSVP apps for quick scanning (such as a text message or email) and not for in-depth reading of textbooks or learning material. The speaker also notes that Meta Guiding is a technique he is interested in, but the research on it is limited.
- The speaker's informal test found RSVP reading exhausting, with difficulty remembering details after about 30 seconds of reading that way.
- RSVP's origins are a tachistoscope, a slide projector that flashed images quickly; it was used in World War II to train fighter pilots to identify aircraft, and in the 1960s some schools used it to try to increase reading speeds.
- Spreeder can flash multiple words at once; Spritz shifts each word's position to help the eye reach its optimal recognition point.
Bottom Line
Speed reading tools that skip normal eye movement, inner speech, or rereading do not reliably preserve comprehension for learning, so they are better suited to quick skimming than to studying.
