private_messaging comments on Mental Subvocalization --"Saying" Words In Your Mind As You Read - Less Wrong

9 Post author: Torello 15 February 2014 02:38AM

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Comment author: antrocent 17 February 2014 07:59:47PM *  2 points [-]

Reading without sub-vocalization is impossible, although you may not notice you are doing it.

Here's the problem with that. You can't read without subvocalization. Carver and Rayner have both found that even the fastest readers all subvocalize. Even skimmers subvocalize key words. This is detectable, even among speed readers who think they don't do it, by the placement of electromagnetic sensors on the throat which pick up the faint nerve impulses sent to the muscles. Our brains just don't seem to be able to completely divorce reading from speaking.

skeptoid.com/episodes/4229

Comment author: private_messaging 17 February 2014 10:38:33PM *  2 points [-]

This is a bit ridiculous.

I can count out loud while reading (doing both at maximum speed for each separately). This means that the motor areas in the brain which generate signals to control muscles in my tongue, larynx, etc. compute the right nerve impulses for words 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 .... . This means that they are not computing the nerve impulses for vocalization of what ever I am reading.

Now, if during reading some little signals are present, that can mean all sorts of things. E.g. in a robot that would mean that the power supply's voltage stabilization is not perfect. Unless they actually decode words from the impulses they can't say if its some sort of noise or subvocalization.

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