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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 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