January 24, 2013 2:12 pm
There’s No Such Thing as Reading Silently to Yourself
Photo: murphyeppoon
Sitting in a corner reading silently—as you might be doing with this post, for example—turns out to be impossible. Though you’re not making any sound, you’re likely imagining a voice speaking the words within your head. Reading silently combines different sensory systems, the auditory and the visual, SciCurious explains. But is this auditory component of reading silently a necessary component of this activity or just something that we insert into our heads to aid us in comprehension?
Luckily, there is a small population of people with electrodes implanted into their heads that can help answer this question. (Most of these people have severe epilepsy and the electrodes are part of their treatment). Researchers asked four of these people to read a story silently and listen to a voice giving them instructions. The part of their auditory cortex that usually responds to speech also processed the written words as if they were spoken.
The authors think their work shows that we all possess an “inner voice” when reading quietly to ourselves, suggesting that silent reading can never be silent—at least to our brains.
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I love it when I watch a show with actors that use heavy accents, then go read a book and all the characters in the book have the same accents in my head.
Comment by Shawn — January 25, 2013 @ 9:50 am
But — what about deaf people who have never heard?
Comment by Christine — January 27, 2013 @ 6:05 pm
And deaf people? Do they also here a voice inside their head ?
Comment by Peter — January 27, 2013 @ 6:14 pm
How does this apply to people who have been profoundly deaf since birth?
Comment by Susan — January 27, 2013 @ 6:18 pm
In the ancient world, all people who could read, read out loud, or at the very least moved their lips while reading. St. Augustine tells how he once found St. Ambrose reading a book without moving his lips – the first time he had seen anyone able to do such a thing.
Comment by Rod — January 27, 2013 @ 6:23 pm
Actually, that is a fairly recent development. It was Saint Augustine who was stunned into amazement when he visited (I can’t remember the bishop nor his name) and saw him reading to himself in silence. At that time, the few people who were literate read aloud to themselves. Oh, and I hear voices in my head even when I’m not reading.
Comment by Lon — January 27, 2013 @ 7:44 pm
I wonder about deaf people reading. If they’ve never heard a voice speaking, why would they hear an inner voice?
Comment by Ariella — January 27, 2013 @ 7:52 pm
So what happens if you are deaf? Does reading to yourself activate the same area of the brain? Do people who have never heard a voice hear voices in their heads when they read? Is that even possible?
Comment by Molly Srausbaugh — January 27, 2013 @ 9:14 pm
This was the whole idea behind what was called speed-reading, a few decades back. The idea was to get past the voice-in-the-head to pure visual intake, by reading down the middle of the page at a very rapid rate. Did that turn out to be a myth, and is no one doing that any more?
Comment by Gene in L.A. — January 27, 2013 @ 11:06 pm
The idea that we cannot comprehend written information unless we hear it in our heads makes sense to me from an evolutionary standpoint. Humans are the first species that have developed written word and that can read. All other animals can hear verbal communication, and their brains interpret sounds, so it makes sense that we cannot simply understand communication through sight. However, it is interesting in that we can visualize other means on communication using sight, such as hand gestures and sign language and symbols, so why not letters? Perhaps this means that certain types of information can only be interpreted in certain ways? An interesting study would be in scientists tried to find out from people that have been deaf their whole lives, what they interpret in their heads when they read words, since they have never heard any of these words spoken aloud, and thus cannot utilize this same “inner voice” as the rest of us. The words must appear more as symbols would appear to us, soundless.
Comment by Dara Nikoonezhad — January 28, 2013 @ 3:58 am
Hi Everyone! Sci here, from the original post at Neurotic Physiology (http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2013/01/23/silent-reading-isnt-so-silent-at-least-not-to-your-brain/). I’m so glad to see good questions!
Unfortunately, the paper did not address how deaf people process reading, or whether they do it in the same way. There are other studies which sort of address this, but it’s a difficult test to perform. Most deaf people receive cochlear implants, become deaf after learning to speak, or are taught speech in addition to sign. In fMRI studies, deaf people who have been taught to speak still show auditory processing when they read (see here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19012106), but when reading normally they appear also to associate with the mouth shape and hand sign (activation in manual areas especially, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19012106). Another study which worked exclusively with people who were deaf prior to learning to read showed activation instead associated with phonological processes, so with the shape of the mouth required (as in lip reading) as opposed to the sound itself (see here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17329129). A third study shows no activation of lanugage areas in deaf people when they read (see here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9448260). So I would say the jury is still out on how exactly the deaf process language, but it is clear that they use auditory associated areas less than people who hear (as you might expect). I hope that helps!
Comment by scicurious — January 28, 2013 @ 3:33 pm
Doesn’t anybody besides scicurious and me read any of the previous comments before posting? Half of these comments say the same thing (“What about deaf people?”).
Comment by kc — January 28, 2013 @ 7:41 pm