{"id":32,"date":"2010-08-07T16:58:30","date_gmt":"2010-08-07T16:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreeder.com\/blog\/?p=32"},"modified":"2010-08-07T16:58:30","modified_gmt":"2010-08-07T16:58:30","slug":"learn-to-read-faster-stop-regressing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreeder.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/07\/learn-to-read-faster-stop-regressing\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn to Read Faster \u2013 Stop \u201cRegressing\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The next reading habit I want to talk about breaking, if you\u2019re serious about improving your reading speed, is called Regression.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Regression, re-reading, back-skipping, going back over what you\u2019ve read \u2013 they all mean the same thing.\u00a0 Rather that continuing in a forward motion, regression is the process of going backwards to reread stuff that you\u2019ve already read.<\/p>\n

Has this ever happened to you?\u00a0 I think all of us have experienced regression at least once, but probably a lot more often than that.\u00a0 Regression is common among readers and it\u2019s a habit that\u2019ll slow your reading speed and have you scratching your head wondering, \u201cWhat did I just read?\u201d<\/p>\n

Next time you have a chance to observe someone reading silently, focus in on their eyes.\u00a0 As you watch, don\u2019t be surprised if you see the person\u2019s eyes moving along forward at a good clip and then suddenly twitching backwards.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty funny to watch, but what it does to your reading speed and comprehension is no laughing matter.<\/p>\n

Imagine if that\u2019s the way we walked.\u00a0 You\u2019d see people out on the sidewalk, taking one forward-moving step after another.\u00a0 And then suddenly, they take a step backward, maybe even two or three, before returning to their forward motion.\u00a0 They\u2019d continue walking forward, taking maybe ten or twenty steps, then out of the blue, they\u2019d take two or three steps backward.<\/p>\n

If you saw people walking this way, you\u2019d definitely think something was wrong, or that maybe they had too much to drink.\u00a0 But no matter what you thought, you\u2019d have to agree that anyone walking this way couldn\u2019t be making much progress.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly the same problem that happens when people regress as they read: They don\u2019t make much progress.<\/p>\n

Then why do readers do it?<\/p>\n

Well, sometimes \u2013 but not very often \u2013 regression is necessary.\u00a0 It\u2019s sometimes difficult to avoid regressing when what you\u2019re reading is academic or technical in nature.\u00a0 Sometimes the author\u2019s way of writing is ineffective in engaging his or her audience; a problem that causes readers to have to reread what they just read in order to figure out the message the author is attempting to convey.<\/p>\n

But more often than not, people regress when they read for the simple reason that regression is a habit.\u00a0 And because it\u2019s a habit, it usually happens without realizing that it\u2019s even happening.\u00a0 That kind of regression is called unconscious regression and it usually happens because you think your brain didn\u2019t capture the information right the first time.\u00a0 For whatever reason, you don\u2019t trust your brain, so you go back and double-check your brain\u2019s ability by rereading the material you just read.<\/p>\n

Regression happens at a conscious level too.\u00a0 Sometimes you just know you didn\u2019t understand what you read, or that you missed something really important in what you just read.\u00a0 This happens a lot when readers get to the bottom of the page.\u00a0 That\u2019s when they realize that although their eyes were looking at the words on the page, their mind was elsewhere and not fully engaged.<\/p>\n

Even though they spent all that time reading, it turns out their minds didn\u2019t understand a thing.\u00a0 So back they go, in search of the material they missed the first time around.\u00a0 Sometimes they\u2019ll find it, but not always, so back they go again.<\/p>\n

Has that ever happened to you?\u00a0 What I really should be asking is, how many times has that ever happened to you?<\/em><\/p>\n

Some estimates put the amount of time people spend re-rereading or back-skipping or whatever you want to call it at 33%.\u00a0 Yes \u2013 THIRTY-THREE percent.\u00a0 That means that out of every hour, the typical reader spends 20 minutes out of 60 rereading the same material, and sometimes reading it over and over again.\u00a0 That\u2019s a huge amount of time and I get tired just thinking about it!\u00a0 It also means that just 40 minutes of every hour is spent going forward.<\/p>\n

Regression also causes problems with comprehension.\u00a0 When you read in a forward direction but then go backwards, you can\u2019t help but lose track of the point the words are trying make.\u00a0 When a sentence\u2019s flow is disrupted by regressing, it\u2019s nearly impossible to understand the meaning of the sentence.<\/p>\n

What else causes regression?<\/p>\n

Sometimes regression is caused by subvocalization.\u00a0 When you subvocalize, your eyes and your mouth don\u2019t always progress at the same speed.\u00a0 Sometimes your eyes race ahead of your mouth.\u00a0 So what you have is a situation in which your eyes read one thing while your mouth is busy reading something else.<\/p>\n

Needless to say whenever this happens, confusion about what was just read is never far behind.\u00a0 So you go back and reread, this time trying hard to get your eyes and your mouth to move in sync.<\/p>\n

Sometimes people regress because they\u2019re compelled to do it.\u00a0 In some people the need to reread is no different than to the need to double- and triple-check that they turned off the oven.\u00a0 In this situation, regression is considered a form of compulsive behavior.\u00a0 Anyone who refuses to trust his or her own ability to understand what was read will always go back and reread material, sometimes over and over again.\u00a0 When it\u2019s compulsive, the regression habit is a bit harder to break.<\/p>\n

Finally, some readers simply believe that slower reading is better reading.\u00a0 They have fallen victim to the myth that good comprehension requires slow, purposeful and repetitive reading.\u00a0 Because it\u2019s what they believe, they refuse to read any differently.\u00a0 If you belong to the slower is better<\/em> school of reading, I hope to show you later on that there is a better way, and that better way is by reading faster<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That ends my discussion of regression for now.<\/p>\n

Video Version of Post
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