I always want to finish a task quickly. The 15 seconds of Douyin short videos now feel long.
We are constantly reading. The copy of short videos, messages in WeChat groups, articles in public accounts, government work reports, and so on.
When we see a piece of text, we can decode their meaning based on the arrangement of words. So what exactly happens in our brain when we see segments of text and derive information from them?
Our brain structure was probably formed about 2 million years ago. As evolutionary psychologists say, although we live in the 21st century, our brains are still from the Stone Age. Fortunately, our brains are plastic and can adapt to different environments.
During the reading process, our brain utilizes three systems: the visual system, the speech system, and the motor system.
First, the visual system captures the text we read and breaks it down into smaller linguistic units.
Then, the speech system performs "phonological matching" and "rapid naming" based on the smallest units. Phonological matching, in other words, is the conversion of written symbols into speech. Rapid naming is like looking up words in a dictionary, except that we search our memory dictionary to see if we can find a match for the smallest linguistic unit. For example, when we see the character "火" (fire), we quickly name it as "burning" or "flame," and ultimately select the most appropriate semantic meaning from a multitude of vocabulary.
Lastly, the motor system, which encompasses a wide range of actions, plays a role in reading. It includes gross movements like sitting, lying down, running, and jumping, as well as fine movements like eating, writing, and reading. So how does the motor system function in reading? The book explains that the motor system is mainly involved in the fine movements we perform during handwriting practice. In reading science, this is referred to as "orthographic processing." For example, when the character "吴" (Wu) has the radical "天" (heaven) on top, we can recognize it, relying on the fine motor movements we practice in handwriting.
Before reading this book, I had never thought about it so deeply. I couldn't help but write these notes after reading 25 pages. Everything can be explained scientifically, and our brain unconsciously uses various scientific methods to serve us.