Fact or Fad: An EEG Study on The Effect of Bionic Reading on Semantic Processing during Speed-Reading.

Abstract

This study experimentally tests whether the Bionic Reading font helps people retain reading comprehension, in the form of semantic processing, while reading at a speed that might cause people to lose comprehension when reading in a standard font. Nowadays people have access to more written information than they can consume in a lifetime. Numerous speed-reading methods are still being developed to this day to consume as much of this information as possible. One of these methods, which is becoming a fad recently, is called Bionic Reading (BR). Claims are being made that Bionic Reading makes you read faster while retaining language comprehension. A remarkable claim since research has proven a trade-off between reading speed and reading comprehension. To study these claims, a setup was used in which EEG was recorded while performing a RSVP-task. The participant was shown semantic congruent and semantic incongruent sentences at a rate of 500 words per minute. The N400 response was used to measure semantic processing during speed-reading. The results suggest, contrary to the hypothesis, that the high word rate did not impair semantic processing, as indicated by the presence of the N400 effect in response to semantically incongruent sentences. Additionally, due to limitations with the ISI, the study’s premise was altered, and no conclusion could be drawn regarding the effect of BR during speed-reading, leaving the second hypothesis without a definitive conclusion. By acknowledging the limitations of the study and proposing a new approach with a 0 ms ISI, researchers can build on this baseline and continue to unravel the complexities of semantic processing during speed-reading.