Read more efficiently

Reading is one of the first skills taught in the school system, because it's the basis for capturing written information, and not just in language courses. Knowing how to read is useful everywhere. But we need to understand how our brains read.

First, it analyzes letters individually and in groups to recognize words. It then formulates semantic propositions, leading to the second stage, comprehension. Our grey matter draws on our memories and knowledge to build a model of the situation according to the sentence in front of us.

Finally comes the most important stage: coherence. In other words, we're going to start making inferences, guessing from what's not written what it all means. Let's look at a sentence like: "The man stares at the blonde woman entering the metro, then looks away." We can imagine that he does so because she has seen him from her side, because she is about to leave, because it brings back memories. This coherence is fundamental to understanding a text.

So, to improve comprehension and memory, neuroscientists suggest making inferences, i.e. trying to guess what comes next after a paragraph or a word. It can be interesting, even if it's more demanding on concentration, to ask yourself what you've retained so far from the text. Not a simple mental exercise, but stimulating if practiced regularly.

Duration: 3min25