You Can Learn to Remember: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

speed reading
S
peed reading is not only about being able to run our eyes quickly over a page,
it is also about being able to store that information quickly – in a sense it is
“speed memorizing” too. Some people believe that reading slowly, paying
attention to the language as well as to its meaning, involves us in unnecessary
distractions; and that, moreover, the stopping and starting we tend to do breaks
our concentration, permitting our minds to wander. We need to ignore the fact

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that language divides a pas sage up into complex, interrelated clauses and
develop our concentration so that it is fully and continuously focused on the key
units of underlying meaning. The rhythm of speed reading aids our concentration
and so our comprehension.
Most of us are able to increase our average reading speed from 200 to 600
words per minute with little effort. Firstly, we need to make sure that the act of
reading is continuous. Try not to break off from any passages as you read them.
Use a pointer, such as a pencil, to train your eyes to keep a steady track along the
words on each line and move swiftly from one line to the next. A good way to
test whether or not you are moving your eyes correctly is to point your finger out
in front and use it to guide your eyes smoothly across the room. Now have a go
at scanning the room without pointing – you will notice the more staccato
movement immediately.
When you speed-read, rest the pointer on the page just below the first line
of text and move it from left to right so that your eyes are able to follow the
pointer along the text without pausing. Keep to a smooth and steady pace.
Gradually increase the speed you move the pointer.
checking the sense
EXERCISE NINETEEN
When we speed-read we can ensure that we are focusing fully on the words by
testing our comprehension of the text.
1. Determine your existing reading speed. Time yourself as you read normally
through the “Left Brain, Right Brain” text on pp.
30–31
. Divide the number of
words on the page (595) by the time it took you to read them (round up or down
to the nearest minute).
2. Answer the following to check your comprehension: what name is given to the
network of fibres between the two halves of the brain? which side of the brain is
involved in parallel processing? where is our mem ory of how to play an
instrument stored?
3. Now use the speed reading method to read the main text of Theories of
Forgetting (pp.
52–3
). It contains 427 words. Time yourself and calculate your
new average.
4. Test your comprehension. What is proactive inhibition? Why does retroactive

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inhibition seem to be more persistent? What is “trace decay”? As a rough guide
your understanding should at least be the same, if not better, than with the
normally read passage. Keep practising, asking a friend to set you questions on
the other passages.