If you're reading this sentence, chances are you're reading it silently (if you're reading it out loud, hey, that's cool too). Your lips aren't moving, you're not making any sound that other people can hear. But are you making "sound" in your head? Many people who read silently do so by imagining a voice speaking the words they are reading (and often, it's your own voice, so there's even a specific "tone". I wonder if this is what makes people react so strongly to some blog posts). This could be because when we learn to read, we associate symbols with verbal sounds until the association is effortless (as for reading learning in the deaf, it may occur another way).*
This is particularly interesting because it means that reading silently is producing "cross-talk" between different sensory systems, with written words producing an auditory experience for the reader. But is it really an auditory experience?
(Source)
Perrone-Bertolotti et al. "How Silent Is Silent Reading? Intracerebral Evidence for Top-Down Activation of Temporal Voice Areas during Reading" Journal of Neuroscience, 2012.
It's a relatively easy hypothesis to assume that if we are "reading aloud" when we read silently, we should see increases in activity in the auditory-related areas of our brains, particularly things like the temporal voice area (which is particularly sensitive to voices as opposed to sounds in general). There are some fMRI studies that have indeed shown activity in this area during silent reading. But when does this occur? Is it part of the processing of silent reading? Do we have to read "aloud" to ourselves to read silently? Or is it something that happens later on, where we insert the voice reading "aloud" in our heads to aid us in comprehension?
This isn't something that fMRI can answer. But it is something you can answer if you have electrodes implanted in the right places. While most people don't walk around with electrodes in their heads and are unlikely to volunteer to do it for science, there is a small population of people who DO. Some of these people have severe intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. One of the last-ditch treatments for this is often the resection (taking out) of the temporal lobes. But before this is done, you have to determine if the seizures really are the result of temporal lobe activity, and where the seizures start (you really don't want to have to take out more than you absolutely need to). So patients get implanted with electroencephalographic electrodes that are underneath the skull and over the temporal lobes to monitor their activity.
And of course, if you've got the electrodes anyway, you might as well participate in a reading study.
So the authors of this study had four people previously implanted with EEG electrodes near the temporal lobes read a story silently and listen to a voice giving them instructions. While they read and listened the authors were taking recordings.
You can see above recordings from the four auditory areas, one from each patient (sadly, there were only four patients, it's a rare condition, and those who need surgical treatment for it are even more rare). You can see that these areas in the temporal lobes respond significantly to speech (French, Suomi, and reversed French) as compared to other random sounds like coughs, music, or animal noises.
And this area also responds to the written word.
You can see the blue lines (when the patients were asked to pay attention) showed increases in electrical activity in this area when the patients were presented with written words. This is an auditory cortex that usually responds to speech, and apparently, to our brains, the written word counts as speech.
What's particularly new about this study is that it not only shows that silent reading causes high-frequency electrical activity in auditory areas, but it shows that these areas as specific to voices speaking a language. This activity was only present when the person was paying attention to the task. The authors believe that these results back up the hypothesis that we all produce an "inner voice" when reading silently. And it is enhanced by attention, suggesting that it's probably not an automatic process, but something that occurs when we attentively process what we are reading. And the next time you read silently, remember that it's not quite to silent to your brain.
Perrone-Bertolotti M, Kujala J, Vidal JR, Hamame CM, Ossandon T, Bertrand O, Minotti L, Kahane P, Jerbi K, & Lachaux JP (2012). How Silent Is Silent Reading? Intracerebral Evidence for Top-Down Activation of Temporal Voice Areas during Reading. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32 (49), 17554-17562 PMID: 23223279
*Side note: the authors also comment that "few would contest that most of our waking time is spent talking to ourselves covertly". This amuses me greatly. Do we? I mean, no citation for that, but do we all spend a lot of time talking to ourselves in our heads? Is this one of those things that everyone is slightly too embarrassed to talk about?
I'm not too embarrassed to admit I'm always talking to myself. I reckon as long as I know it's me that's talking in there, I'm OK.
And when I'm reading something where I've got a basis for the voices, for instance, Rumpole voiced by Leo McKern, as I'm reading, I hear Rumpole speaking as voiced by McKern. Not like I could improve on him.
I also always talk to myself. I reckon as long as I'm saying happy things, I'm OK.
OK, now all I can do is focus on the voice in my head... sure is noisier than I remember.
Would be interesting to test speed readers!?
It would be interesting - when I'm reading at full speed its more like dreaming, I'm not really concious of "reading" as such, there is no single voice in my head as there would be when I'm reading say this blog, instead its more like a full sense experience (this is for fiction of course, speed reading non-fiction is pretty much impossible for me)
Last time I was rated for speed reading fiction it was somewhere around 1500 wpm.. with recall
I read pretty fast, way faster than I can speak and though I can recall the concepts, I can't recall the actual way in which those concepts were phrased. So, more research is needed?
Though from what I gathered about debilitating temporal lobe epilepsy, it's not likely that there are very fast readers among them (the clue is in the 'debilitating' bit). Also, I'm not going to volunteer for electrodes in *my* brain
I think it's debilitating in the sense that it makes it hard for them to live normal lives, not in the sense that it affects their cognitive abilities .
We now know that there are two, possibly more, parallel reading circuits. The one that you might use is the direct 'letters to lexicon' pathway; the other is 'letters to silent speech to lexicon.' Although they work together in many cases, as you can imagine the direct rout is slightly faster. Together they reinforce each other in context and content, making it easier to understand. I assume, and from what I've been told, speed readers train to silence their inner voice during active reading.
I'd say the authors are guilty of the "Typical Mind Fallacy: the human tendency to believe that one's own mental structure can be generalized to apply to everyone else's." Just because a few people (with a common ailment!) show this effect doesn't mean that everybody does. This problem seems to me to be common in neurology (and many other fields).
That said, I find written material to be more "euphonius" when the sequence of syllables is easily pronounced, even when I'm reading silently.
Well, as far as I know everyone has an inner voice that they use when in silent reading. Even I use it and most 99 percent of everyone commenting here agrees. So, what was the problem again?
Do you have any data for "as far as you know"? No, 99% of the people commenting here do not agree. The problem is that bad science is leading people to faulty conclusions.
A good point, AK! I'm not sure I agree with them, though I do think some people have the "inner voice" (I know I do, and now I notice it and it BOTHERS me).
OMG! this article is awesome! u see, (excuse my spelling errors) for several years now i have had this idea that childeren shuld NOT be made to read silently in class but always read out loud in groups or all together taking turns. I have felt that in doing so, could possibly be what begins the development of " the voice(s)". Reading out loudvalso helps reading skills, is speech therapy as well as the opportunity for a teacher to correct a student if child reads/says a word wrong compared to the child not knowing and having to go off of their own guessed assumption. i strongly feel that reading silently is something that teachers should change about their own teaching skills as well as every classroom. i hope to see this issue as one that needs to be addressed so that it can be changed within the entire education system. reading silently should be banned in our schools!
when i mention this thought and idea to friends they look at me like I'm dumb and laugh. I'm glad that i found this information because it supports my thoughts and theory as well as lets me know i am a smart person, am creative and think on the right path when it comes to my goals of being someone who makes a difference to better the world.
Careful, there. Not everyone processes language in the same way. Back in the 1960's schools were teaching reading by requiring students to read aloud. Because he could not read aloud, his mother was told he was retarded, could not learn, and that she should institutionalize him. His mother knew better because he would tell her about the stories he had read, in his own words. Today he has a PhD in molecular biology. He still cannot read aloud.
wow! beautiful; hooray for a wonderful mother
That would have made me hate school even more than I already did - I could read faster in my head than out loud even at the beginning of primary school, and I was bored and frustrated enough at school without someone's theory about "development of "the voice(s)" " meaning I had to slow down to the pace of the stupid kids in the one activity I really enjoyed.
[...] The post examines a study (subscription required) recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience involving epileptic patients who had intracranial electrodes implanted in their auditory cortex for therapeutic purposes. Participants were asked to read a story silently and listen to a voice giving them instructions while researchers recorded their brain activity. Scicurious writes: [...]
Great read! Made me ponder my inner monologue.
If I know the writer, I read in their voice. But if I don't, I tend to read it in the voice of NOVA podcast producer David Levin.
It started when I got a job writing copy for short video clips. To keep myself engaging, descriptive, and brief, I took to writing in his voice. It hasn't let me down, yet
Currently writing this in my own voice, though. Cheers!
From now on I am going to try very hard to hear my inner voice as Patrick Stewart.
I'll have Cate Blanchett with the wit of Judi Dench, thanks. Is it really going to be that easy?
This is so interesting in the context that a lot of reading is automated, in that you will sometimes read things before you realize that you have read them (see: the Stoop effect! particularly the interference effect).
I definitely hear my own voice when I am writing, and when I am reading more complicated articles. But when I'm reading a fun article or just observing a billboard as I'm driving past it? No internal voice.
This is a really neat area of research! Thanks for sharing.
Stroop effect, after John Ridley Stroop?
I can tell you right now that I consciously and intentionally imagine that I hear someone speak the words as I read them. I have no idea how this action would appear on any type of medical equipment, but I can vouch for the process I go through when reading.
I never gave any thought to what voice I'm hearing, though. I suppose it's possible that I envision reading the text aloud - in which case, it would be my own voice that I'm imagining.
Although... if I am reading a transcript of something I have actually heard, I hear the original speaker's voice. For example, when I read the words...
"Yesterday, December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..."
I can't help but hear FDR's voice.
Personally, when reading I don't have a "voice" reading, not always anyways. I have a very high reading rate(upwards off 600 wpm) and can finish decent size novels 3-5 a week given very little time. But on occasion, especially when tired, I find the "voice" or monologue will turn on suddenly, and I find myself pronouncing each word in my head so to speak. This drops my reading rate DRASTICALLY and I find reading completely intolerable and need to put down the book and try again later(usually the next day). I havn't found any way to just stop the voice. It's quite a nuisance.
I can't read without the voice. I have to insert inflections, pacing, volume and pacing and that does put a conversational speed limit on my reading.
I can think without the voice and I do all the time, it's way awesome. But I can't read without it.
How do you read without the voice?
I've trained myself so that my inner voice is always Morgan Freeman.
"Like"
I'm now training myself for mine to be Patrick Stewart.
Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.
I agree with AK. I don't hear a voice when I'm reading silently, either. I'm just reading.
Unless I get self-conscious about it, as I did when reading this article. Then I hear my voice hesitantly reading aloud, and I read more slowly as a result.
Is that weird?
I wonder what the scans show when deaf people are reading. I'm assuming they don't have an inner voice, well, since they're deaf so they don't know what a voice sounds like.
I posted a reply to questions like this over at The Smithsonian, here it is again:
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!
I don't know how it's like with other deaf people, but for me, I was taught to speak so most of the time, I "hear" myself when I read. But sometimes a phrase or paragraph just doesn't make sense until I visualizate myself signing the same thing. Hope it helps a bit!
Well, I don't know about others but I always hear what I read silently. When I write too, I speak out the words to myself without opening my mouth.
I don't hear any voice when I am silent reading. The key to silent "speed reading" is not to say the words in your head but to see pictures. If you see pictures you remember what you have read; greatly improving recall and comprehension. Very suspect assumptions and findings here - like a lot of poor sciencechurned out by academics, who must continuely "publish or perish" these days.
Several years ago, when studying for my BA in Deaf Studies, I asked one of my deaf tutors what happened when they read something, and he explained that for most 'signers' they actually visualised the appropriate signs for what they were reading, in much the same way as we who can hear will 'hear' a voice reciting what we read. He possitied that this was also probably the reason why the majority of deaf, and signing deaf people have a fairly low reading age.
That's really cool. And there's an fMRI study (see above) showing something similar. I'd love to see it replicated!
When I read silently, if I have mental voice or not depends on what I am reading. I find that if reading fiction, the words disappear, and I see the movie of the narrative and hear dialogue with different voices for each character--just like watching a movie. If reading non-fiction I may or may not "verbalize" it. With chemistry, I tended to use the words to build mental models of molecules and reactions. Same with physics. History varies--depending on how familiar I am with the period and setting. I would agree with those who read rapidly that the "voice" slows the pace and actually interferes with the movie.
In teaching reading we need to be sensitive to how children learn and give them as many options for comprehension as possible without telling them one way is the right way. Many of the LD kids I work with are thrilled to learn that they can build mental images from the words and go to movies in their heads as opposed to hearing just the words.
Curious about how other teachers work with this. . .
^^ this.
Wish I read this before posting my previous comment. Lets see if it can be removed.
I do have an inner voice and it is strong and continuous and dependent mostly on whether I'm alone.. The voice will change if having read I then hear someone else read or the author read the same text. Why do so many worry the idea of this voice that does not speak? It seems ultimately the place you can keep lies and memories truthful and freedoms to be protected. Does this inner voice have all the attributes of the object voice? Maybe volume can be forgotten. Perhaps Robinson crusoe would only of moved his lips.
I've on various occasions found myself trying to speak a word I've previously only only seen in writing (typically a foreign name), only to realize I don't know how to pronounce it. Not merely not knowing how to pronounce it correctly, but at all - there doesn't seem to be a phonetic version of the word stored in my mind. I have to think about the written form and consciously guess a pronunciation.
Which would lead me to suspect I don't necessarily process written language as speech.
BTW, Suomi is probably better known to anglophones as Finnish.
[...] (The Edition) • Silent Reading Isn’t So Silent. Apparently we “speak” the lines we read to ourselves, or so brain scans show. • [...]
I remember at school trying to learn to 'speed read'- ( something I read about on the back of comic book) and deciding that hearing my inner voice as I read was detrimental to becoming an alpha student. So EVERY time I heard myself I would stop and start over. As I now read this I feel that I could have saved myself a bit of browbeating. I also wonder if the voice comes into play on one level at least, as a means of regaining lost attention. When a piece is particularly technical or challenging, reading out loud can assist in understanding ( slowing over enthusiastic reading). Does this make sense? Maybe I am just a bit slow? Is my inner voice a result of being slow?
I used to speed read without hearing any single voices, just an immersion in the story, like watching a show. Then I moved to another country and had to learn a new and complex language. I learned by listening because with a new alphabet with a lot more vowels than I was used to I couldn't figure out the appropriate sounds just by looking at the letters - I had to hear a word pronounced out loud before I could actually understand it. Ever since then, I can't read without voicing what I'm reading in my head. My reading has slowed considerably, but I feel like I catch more of the subtle nuances good writers use.
Most of the time - especially when I'm reading an article or an informative text - I extract the sense of the words without actually hearing a 'voice', per se. However, if I am reading a fictional text, especially one which is dialogue driven, I sometimes have a male narrator (as opposed to my own female voice) and create different tones for the separate characters.
I don't know if that's weird or not.
There are occasions when I imagine my own voice reading the words, but they are few and far between.
I seldom read with voices in my head. I do talk to myself, however. What I do have in my head is music - anything from kindergarten songs to full synphonic works (I was a music major way back and taught elem and jr hi vocal/general music for 33 years). I haven't heard of many who always have music going!
[...] Silent Reading Isn’t So Silent, At Least, Not To Your Brain — Scientopia [...]
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Interesting reading, I suspect neuroplasticity has a lot to do with all of this. The brain/ mind is a beautiful thing and we have no idea yet what it is capable of.
There seems to be a lot of contradiction on the internet about whether you should read out loud to retain more or not - your findings seem to show that it doesn't make much difference as our brains think we ARE reading out loud!
I loved the comment about the teachers can only correct a child's reading if they are reading out loud (of course) as it reminds me of two words I always read wrongly in my head and it wasn't until years later that I used the words in conversation (fortunately to my mother) and she didn't know what I was talking about and asked me to spell them - the words were 'misled' (which I pronounced with the first part to rhyme with Prize and the second part the same as in chiselled) and the second word eludes me for the moment but it was similarly funny
Thanks for bringing this experiment to our attention
Read where many dyslexics don't have the voice in their head when reading. I'm curious what sort of pictures one sees when reading things that aren't visual like legal documents. Also, I wonder if some people just aren't aware of the voice. No voice if I just look at one word because the meaning is obvious but when reading a sentence or more, it just happens naturally. No voice when looking at a completely foreign language because I don't know what it is. But of course, I can't comprehend what it is either.
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