Three truths about reading!Why do I still read paper books in the Internet era?

Are you reading e -books or paper books recently?

Or let's change the question and read the same book. Do you think there is a difference between choosing e -books and paper books?

The rich reading carrier and digital platform drive more people to choose knowledge videos, audio, and e -books. Digital products naturally have their advantages, such as convenience and lower price. But for our brain, reading paper books and watching various digital products, the benefits brought are very different.

In the book "Brain and Reading", the "Nobel Prize in the Field of Neuroscience" -The European Brain Prize winner Denon, an in -depth analysis of the reading mechanism of the brain, and using rigorous scientific data to explain the explanation The importance of "reading".

Following the clues given in the book, Academician Dou's cooperative researcher in China, Mr. Zhou Jiaxian, deputy director of East China Normal University Education Neuroscience Research Center, in the intensive reading class of the book "Brain and Reading" The language that understands has further given three truth about "Chinese reading", especially "paper reading".

In the Internet era, do we need to read?

I hope these three truths about reading can give you more inspiration.

Truth 1

The electronic screen will increase the cognitive load of the brain

Not conducive to knowledge depth encoding memory

In this era, the biggest misunderstanding of reading is to think that "reading paper books and e -books are the same."

It is true that many advantages of e -books, such as easy carrying, easy to retrieve and find, can be associated at any time to more high -quality content, facilitates more extension and expansion, etc. It is not available in paper books.

But it is also these characteristics that will keep our brain's cognitive load.

What is cognitive load?

Simply put, it is the cognitive resources used by a person when completing the task, including attention and short -term memory. However, these cognitive resources are limited. We can only focus on the attention for a while, pay attention to the few important things, and only remember and understand the content that is not long.

Therefore, if the task is too difficult, not only does it need to pay attention to many aspects at the same time, but also to eliminate the interference factors, it will generate a high cognitive load.

We all know that at the beginning of the invention, the electronic screen was not designed for reading. Whether it is a mobile phone or a computer, it pays attention to the generality. I hope to complete the tasks of diversity as much as possible. The Internet, social, writing, painting, etc., omnipotent.

Therefore, whether it is the interface of the operating system, a variety of menu columns, or various news reminders that jump out at any time, it will cause unnecessary interference to reading. While excluding these interference, the brain will inevitably increase cognitive load.

Maybe you would say, if you use a special reader to read, will the effect be different?

The answer is that the electronic screen still increases the cognitive load of the brain elsewhere. For example, an inconspicuous action, but not the attention of us, but it is important -pages.

It is a natural thing to flip the page on the paper, but the pages on the screen are different.

The behavioral research compared the response speed of different page rollover gestures. It was found that the gesture of clicking the screen pages was the slowest, because we need to confirm whether the click position is correct before clicking the screen. If you press to the wrong position, it may trigger it. Wrong instructions, thereby increasing operational difficulty and cognitive burden.

In addition, a study in 2014 also shows that even if we do not use mobile phones, we just put it on the table next to each other, which will also allow us to miss the message, miss the anxiety of important matters, and then affect the ability to complete other tasks.

Excessive cognitive load has a huge impact on the results of the reading. The most obvious point is that it will affect the depth of the encoding of memory.

In an experiment on reading effects, the researchers first obtained the same reading comprehension score by controlling the interference conditions to allow paper reading and screen reading.

But in the later memory test, they found that paper readers received deep -coding memories, and screen readers only gained a superficial encoding memory.

The memory of deep coding means that we can remember a knowledge and details that support knowledge, and the memory of superficial encoding is that only one knowledge is correct, but we can't remember relevant evidence and details. There is a impression.

We now only stay at the level of superficial encoding memory through the information received through the Internet and through the electronic screen. This rough browse may allow us to be familiar with more knowledge, but not to activate more neurological paths in memory and reading in the brain, nor can it allow fragmented knowledge. In the knowledge system.

Therefore, if you want to improve the cognitive ability and thinking level, become a real "wise man". Reading in person and reading more paper books is still the most effective path.

Truth 2

Writing and reading is closely related. Pinyin input method is not conducive to the formation of Chinese reading ability

So, what ways can we cultivate or improve the ability to read?

First of all, you need to pay special attention to the protection of writing ability. Because writing and reading ability are closely related.

In recent years, because of the popularity of various electronic equipment, we have fewer and fewer opportunities for writing. Many people often tease themselves that they cannot write a few words a year.

In fact, what you forget may not only be a few words, but also the ability to read. A large number of studies in China and the West have shown that writing and typing are called different cognitive networks in the brain. Typing is a network of action and letters, and writing contains more complicated space and time coding. Because when we write a word, we need to retrieve the strokes of this word at the same time, as well as the proportion of each part, and so on.

Domestic neuroscience experts have done a group of experiments, inviting two groups of elementary school students, one group of pinyin input method for about 1 hour daily, and the other uses only about 10 minutes of pinyin input method.

It was found that the elementary school students who used Pinyin input method for a long time, the activation and functional connections of the Chinese reading network were weaker and the gray quality was smaller. These all show that Pinyin input method has hindered Chinese reading and learning.

In addition, some experts were tested separately for other different types of input methods. Finally, it was found that the use of the glyphs and strokes input method, the ability to read the hearing and the use of the input method is positive, and the use of the Pinyin input method is being used Try, the proficiency of the input method is not related to the reading ability.

In other words, using the input method related to glyphs can actually protect the ability to read and write.

Therefore, in order to protect the reading ability of our brain, the best way is of course writing more. If you can't write every day, it is also good to use the handwriting input method. Do not take the handwriting input method as a dad Mom's patent.

In addition, some studies have shown that some text games in our traditional culture, such as guessing words, or cross -word couplets, have a positive impact on the improvement of Chinese reading ability. Because in these games, if you want to give the correct answer, you need to be familiar with the composition of Chinese characters.

For example, the mystery of a rush is: add a bite in the family and hit a word. Those who are familiar with the structure of Chinese characters will easily think that the mystery is a "hero".

For another example, there is a cross -collaborative couplet. The upper couplet is: Hong is the riverbird, and the lower couplet is right: silkworm is the world's insects. That is, the word "Hong" is demolished into Jianghe birds, and the "silkworm" is demolished into heaven and insects.

From a professional perspective, the process of this type of word disassembly can also be called a "block crack". The group block is the process of combining common thinking of the human brain, and the combination of blocking is actually a process of breaking the thinking of thinking and generating innovative ideas.

These text games can not only help us train reading ability, but also develop innovative thinking.

Truth 3

One ten lines violate the scientific laws, but read more and more can indeed improve the reading speed

A few years ago, a large number of training courses such as "quantum reading" and "full brain speed" claimed to improve reading speed and reading level appeared. Many people felt that as long as they were trained in science, the reading speed would be improved. After reading a book in minutes is not a dream.

However, the related research of brain science tells us that one -line ten lines are impossible to achieve, or this "scanning" reading method does not get any effective information.

Because of the characteristics of our visual system, there are many restrictions to the behavior of reading. If you want to read the content of the book, you can only jump your eyes at a speed of 0.2 seconds to 0.3 seconds and scan the pages.

Therefore, as long as the text presents the unchanged way, it is still displayed by a line of rules, then our reading speed will have the upper limit. The best reader can reach about 400-500 (English) words per minute.

So, what kind of method can improve our reading speed and make it closer to this upper limit?

Here is the principle of startup effect. Simply put, it is a reaction time that presented the stimulus that presented behind it. If the two stimulus is consistent in nature and content, the reaction time will be accelerated. And if the two stimulus is opposite in content and nature, the reaction time will slow down.

According to this behavior principle, the researchers discovered a method that can speed up text reading, which is to present the text briefly. Whether the information appeared first is the letter or Chinese characters, the reading speed of the subsequent text can be accelerated. And if the handwriting and more difficult text are presented first, the subsequent startup effect is even more obvious.

From this perspective, if you can understand the professional vocabulary that may be mentioned in the book before reading an article or a book, you can naturally improve the reading speed.

Reading is one of the important ways to obtain new information. Our life and in -depth thinking are inseparable from it.

There are many things we need to understand about reading. For example, how to help us enhance the advantages of the whole brain, thereby enhancing memory, stimulating creative thinking, and enhancing learning ability? The improvement of reading ability is for us to read various numbers, formulas, models, theorems, graphics, charts, and even programming languages ​​and abstract things?

These questions can be found in the intensive reading class of "Brain and Reading". In the intensive reading class, the translator of the book "Brain and Reading", Mr. Zhou Jiaxian, deputy director of East China Normal University Education Neuroscience Research Center, will be with you to discover more truth about reading, explore scientific reading methods, and also Enjoy changes in reading to brain, cognition and behavior.

Only by understanding the relationship between brain and reading can we know how to guide children to complete reading.Only through a lot of reading can we form deep thoughts and achieve lifelong learning.

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