Eye-movement expert Keith Rayner, <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1998-11174-004" target="_self">argues that</a> even going beyond 500 words per minute is improbable because the mechanical process of moving your eye, fixing it and processing the visual information can’t go much faster than that.

Is It Possible to Read 20,000+ Words Per Minute?

Speed reading experts claim that they can work around this problem by taking in more visual information in each saccade.This is unlikely for two reasons.1. Processing more information per fixation is limited by the fact that our eyes are rather poor lenses. They need to move around in order to get more details. This means that eyes are physically constrained in the amount of information they achieve per fixation.2. W<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_memory" target="_self">orking memory constraints</a> are at least as important as anatomical ones. The brain can hold around 3-5 “chunks” of information at a time.&nbsp;

Problem by taking in more visual information in each saccade

There seems to be some mild evidence here in favor of speed reading. Another study showed some speed reading experts reading around the 600 word per minute level, roughly twice as fast as a normal reader. Speed reading may possibly make you a faster reader, but it's not clear the speed reading techniques are the cause.

Is It Possible to Make Moderate Speed Gains Through Training?

The most dangerous is the idea that subvocalization should be avoided to read faster. Subvocalization is the little inner voice you have when reading that speaks the words aloud. If you turn your attention to it, however, you can still hear yourself making the sounds of the words in your head. It's simply not possible to comprehend what you are reading and avoid using that inner voice. This means moving your finger or a pen to underline the text as you read it.

Subvocalization should be avoided to read faster

1. Skim Before You Read<a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/25/7/521/" target="_self">One study</a> found that skimming a text before going on to reading it, improved comprehension in the majority of cases.2. Improve Your Fluency to Improve Your SpeedIf you read more of a certain type of text, you’ll learn those words faster and read better.3. Know What You Want Before You Read ItThinking about this before you start reading allows you to prime yourself to pay attention when you see words and sentences that are related.4. Deeper Processing Tasks to Improve RetentionTaking paraphrased, sparse notes or rewriting factual information you want to remember.

How Should You Read Better and Faster?

7 years ago I wrote an article about speed reading. Turns out I made a lot of mistakes. Discover why speed reading might not be as useful as expected.

I Was Wrong About Speed Reading: Here are the Facts

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