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Mar. 29th, 2007 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moominmollyWhen you read a book -- when you get into the reading groove, that is -- how do you absorb the individual words? Do you start at the beginning and go to the end? Do you recognize the letters as a group? Do you recognize the shape of the word, or word sets? Something else entirely? Is this something you can even SEE in yourself?
In general, I think of my brain as working very much like my brother Paul's, but in this case, we've never really lined up, so I'm curious how the rest of the world works. I sort of have a pathological relationship to letters, so I'm not very objective.
EDIT: when people speak, I see the letters pass through my brain.
In general, I think of my brain as working very much like my brother Paul's, but in this case, we've never really lined up, so I'm curious how the rest of the world works. I sort of have a pathological relationship to letters, so I'm not very objective.
EDIT: when people speak, I see the letters pass through my brain.
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Date: 2007-03-29 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:39 pm (UTC)When I'm reading something just casually, I tend to read by the word, although I do notice individual letters. Reading usually flows at a moderately quick pace, although I'm not a fast reader. I also hear the words in my head as I read them.
Reading something academic is a little more difficult. I have to intentionally go word by word, and make sure I understand how they connect to the next word. I also have trouble staying on the right line, and general focusing and processing. This is easier if I have a highlighter in hand (or, as I discovered yesterday, if I'm on Wellbutrin). I still hear the words in my head, although often I have to read out loud to myself to make sure I stay on track. I have a brother who was actually diagnosed with learning disabiltiies (unlike me, I wasn't diagnosed, though I suspect I have some), so I learned all the tricks from him.
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Date: 2007-03-29 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:17 pm (UTC)I had this done to me when I was in 4th and 5th grade. I can't do it now as well as I could then; just out of practice I think. But at the time, I had an ungodly fast reading speed. Now it's just like a minor demon.
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Date: 2007-03-29 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 08:31 pm (UTC)i've learned from doing recent reading aloud on car trips that i do not, in fact, pay the same sort of attention to the sound of writing when i'm reading it to myself as when i'm reading it aloud.
like some other commenters here, i absolutely notice misspellings and weird punctuation in writing, but that still feels like a visual thing-- a misspelled word looks wrong to me.
i don't see letters when people talk unless they emphasize initial capitals or something.
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Date: 2007-03-30 05:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 03:43 pm (UTC)I read fast enough that I think I might be doing the "whole word" thing that is pointed to by the research on the subject. But on the other hand, I seem to be much more likely to catch typos than most people, and I rarely read one word for another, so on some level I'm paying significant attention to the individual letters.
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Date: 2007-03-29 03:52 pm (UTC)i also see letters in my brain when people speak. punctuation too, sometimes.
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Date: 2007-03-29 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:09 pm (UTC)An exception - if someone read me something out loud, I often hear it in their voice when I'm re-reading.
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Date: 2007-03-29 04:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-29 04:17 pm (UTC)Reading to me is primarily about sound, not appearance. When I start a book (or I realize that I've lost track of what's going on while reading on the bus and I have to focus again) I hear each word in my head.
When I'm reading messages from my friends (like this LJ, or email or IMs) I continue to read at that speed and for the most part I hear the words in their voice, or at least in their cadence.
After a page or two I devour entire sentences at once. Then they make a picture directly in my head and the words are incidental. Keep in mind that I read fiction at a rate of 120 pages an hour.
I don't think this actually answers your question, though. I'll read other answers and see if I can think of it from a different perspective.
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Date: 2007-03-29 04:23 pm (UTC)of course, this is one of those centipede's dilemma or "don't think about a white horse" heisenburg things, where observing how i do it changes how i do it...
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Date: 2007-03-29 07:31 pm (UTC)but i'll take the "normal" case -- reading a fiction novel. at some point shortly after starting to read, i drop into the story. it's a little like dreaming. i'm "experiencing" the book, not reading it. i can look up, put it down, but the whole time i'm actually reading (and in the best of times with a gripping readable story, i'm matching meg's speed of 120+ pages/hr) i'm inside the story. it's gotten to where, if i can't get inside the story, i put the book down.
--desrt born, posting from work
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Date: 2007-03-29 07:13 pm (UTC)It's been forever since someone read to me and very few movies track the book closely. One that does is The Princess Bride; I hear actors' voices a lot when I reread that book. Ditto Shakespeare and, sometimes, Austen et al.
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Date: 2007-03-29 08:14 pm (UTC)What I do perceive that's sort of sometimes distracting but generally useful and pleasant is that words, to me, are shaped like the thing they are describing. For example, the word dog looks like a little dog. Abstract words do this too, but sometimes in misleading ways, as a word will occassionally look "positive" but have a negative definition.
When people are speaking I don't see words or letters. Mostly I watch their face, I sometimes notice the words come out of their mouth and it weirds me out.
PS - Mr. Ben, who was homeschooled and taught himself to read and write, sounds the words out in his head as he read, as if he was reading the book out loud to himself. This causes problems, as I read quite fast, and he reads slowly. We appear to absorb approximately the same amount of content, though we usually come away with different details being more memorable. Interesting.
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Date: 2007-03-29 09:40 pm (UTC)On the other hand, when people speak, I see their words in my head.
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Date: 2007-03-30 01:02 am (UTC)I do this too. And I eventually figured out that it's why I'm not a poetry reader at heart -- poetry forces me to actually pay attention to each word, and I find it frustratingly slow.
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Date: 2007-03-30 03:33 am (UTC)I don't know if I read that way as much now, I still read much slower than the average person does, but I think it's because it's a twice-over for me. The first time I get the shape, the second time, I look at the letters.
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Date: 2007-03-30 03:35 am (UTC)This is why I've never had a problem with Shakespeare, I think, and also why I have problems with a lot of poetry and non-fiction (no dialog, hence nothing to anchor my reading on).
All of the above! Or mostly, anyway...
Date: 2007-03-30 04:39 am (UTC)I don't spell out or sound out familiar words--I just recognize them. Sometimes whole phrases too. But I do that to longer phrases rarely, because if I extrapolate and guess, I rapidly make mistakes and have to go back and read two or three times, like coats of paint, to make sure I haven't missed something, and that gets time consuming and shatters my immersion in the world. It's as if I hit a scratch on the DVD or a static burst on the videotape.
Unfamiliar words I sound out if they are important, and sometimes try to guess etymology. Strange names I do what others have said--recognize the shape and move on, without ever learning the actual spelling or pronounciation.
Nonfiction is much slower going. I read carefully, never knowing when the vital fact will be slipped in, so I burn out on reading nonfiction very quickly. Something hard like math, I chew over each major word, rereading to make sure it isn't a similar word with a different meaning. Then I am recognizing pieces of words, and sometimes individual letters when they are crucial.
I recognize misspellings as jarring interruptions, mostly by the word "looking wrong" or shattering the grammar and with it the thought. Examination of why a word looks wrong reveals the specific letters out of place. Convoluted sentences cause a "wipeout" where I have to go into dissection mode to parse, another "scratch on the DVD."
I picture stories I read, but I think I'm always somewhat aware that I am reading text on a page. Some stories the picture is sharper than others. Some, I barely get a shimmer. Dialogue I hear, complete with imagined accents, but as others have said, generally at higher speed unless the moment is dramatic and the words weighty. Sometimes my brain adds a soundtrack.
When people talk, I don't picture the words or letters at all, unless the words are strange and my brain is groping for a referent. Speech feels like a completely different "channel" in my brain from reading.
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Date: 2007-04-05 08:51 pm (UTC)