https://betterhumans.pub/slow-reading-is-the-new-deep-learning-452f179c0289

注：中文全部為機器翻譯，主要目的不是提供內容，而是提高內容在中文世界的可發(fā)現(xiàn)性。

早在1959年，當伊芙琳 · 伍德第一次參加她的速讀課程時，我還只是一個年輕人。多年來，我一直癡迷于盡快完成我的閱讀任務，這樣我就可以進入生活中有趣的部分。很明顯，帶著這種態(tài)度，在我的 k-12學年里，我并不是一個好學生。幸運的是，我徹底改變了這種狀況。伊夫林 · 伍德的閱讀動力學課程轟動一時。以至于肯尼迪政府派遣工作人員參加這個課程。約翰 · 肯尼迪(錯誤地)被說成是一個快速閱讀者。即使在伍德女士去世多年之后，這門課程仍然存在。

大約六年前，一大批快速閱讀應用突然出現(xiàn)，并迅速走紅。其中大多數(shù)是基于快速連續(xù)視覺呈現(xiàn)(RSVP)的概念。這些應用程序控制你的眼睛看到什么，并消除了我們回顧剛剛讀過的文字的自然過程，即所謂的回歸，重讀它們。問題是，這些回歸是閱讀理解的關鍵之一。想象一下，你的頭腦有哪怕一秒鐘的漂移，你的眼睛被擋住，不能回頭看你剛剛讀到的文字。

這是用 RSVP 消除回歸的一個例子。

這是一個來自開源快速閱讀應用 Zethos 的例子，它利用 RSVP 來消除回歸。

快速閱讀訓練的其他策略包括指導消除默讀ーー也就是我們對所讀單詞的讀音進行思考的方式。事實上，我們做的不僅僅是簡單地想象聲音。當我們閱讀的時候，我們的舌頭和發(fā)聲器官也會做出微妙的、經(jīng)常是察覺不到的動作。我們通常不能察覺到潛音，但是實驗室的電極傳感器可以檢測到它們。盡管快速閱讀者最慎重的努力去抑制默念，它們是不可能消除的，即使我們可以，我們也不會真的想要消除它們！它們是我們用來處理和理解所讀內容的自然機制的重要組成部分。畢竟，閱讀并不是簡單地從一頁紙上吸取文字進入我們的大腦。這是一個復雜得多的過程，其核心是涉及到語言理解。

用吸塵器把一頁紙上的文字吸進你的記憶。

不幸的是，我們不能簡單地把紙上的文字吸出來，放進我們的長期記憶里。

典型的受過教育的成年人每天的閱讀量在250-400 WPM 之間。快速閱讀者渴望雙倍，三倍，甚至大規(guī)模提高他們的基礎閱讀速度。一篇又一篇的研究論文得出的結論是，由于努力的快速閱讀，閱讀速度提高了，理解力下降了?？焖匍喿x有它的用例。當你想要瀏覽和獲得文本的大意時，使用它(如果你有能力的話)是明智的。但是，當你的目標是獲取知識的時候，略讀是沒有意義的。底線: 理解力隨著閱讀速度的提高而降低。最終，你只是略讀了一下。

但是，大多數(shù)批評家在抨擊快速閱讀時，忽略了一個更為深刻的問題。以學習為目的的閱讀遠不止是達到簡單的理解。理解并不等同于知識的獲得。你必須運用元認知。為了啟用和激活支持閱讀時獲取知識的過程，您必須慢慢閱讀。如果你是為了學習而閱讀，你需要參與到內容中，并將新的概念與你現(xiàn)有的知識聯(lián)系起來。只有這樣，你才能在你的頭腦中安裝新的知識，并能夠在未來利用這些知識。你必須做工作去學習，而且“工作”必須是正確地完成的工作。

慢速閱讀是學者的專利，你慢速閱讀的次數(shù)越多，你的知識基礎就會擴大得越多。

如果你想大量擴展你的知識，成為一個貪婪的慢讀者。

我以前寫過關于如何閱讀學術內容并永遠記住它的文章。在這里，我們將回顧如何放慢閱讀速度和有意識地學習。但首先，我要教你們我們的大腦如何獲得新的知識和記憶。

我們如何學習新事物

中央執(zhí)行官

視覺空間畫板

語音回路

從系統(tǒng)的獨立運行

情景緩沖

海馬體

只有通過慢速閱讀才能達到深度學習

如何閱讀元認知

我們如何學習新事物

以下是從認知心理學的角度對學習和記憶最廣為接受的科學觀點的概述。請注意，對于每一個被提議的，甚至是被大力支持的模型，在科學界總是有相反的觀點。其他理解記憶如何工作的模型正在不斷地被提出。這部分是為好奇的人誰想看看在引擎蓋下，并了解我們如何學習。

我以前寫過關于記憶和學習如何工作的文章，我主要從神經(jīng)科學的角度來看，但是這里我們將從認知心理學的角度來看記憶和學習。

當我們在世界上遇到經(jīng)驗時，我們最初將信息儲存在感官記憶中。感官記憶接收所有感官輸入的總和，它是一個勢不可擋的數(shù)據(jù)洪流。想象一下，有一分鐘你走進一個體育場，在一瞬間，你會看到成千上萬的面孔聚集在一起，遠處還有成千上萬的模糊面孔。與此同時，還有大量的非視覺感官輸入。有各種各樣的氣味。你也在同一瞬間經(jīng)歷其他的感覺輸入，比如你的平衡感、觸覺、本體感覺、振動和溫度。你如何在你的余生中持續(xù)存儲這些海量的數(shù)據(jù)輸入？你愿意嗎？感覺記憶的輸入是勢不可擋的，幸運的是，它的半衰期很短。你一次只能存儲不到一秒的時間，它就會消失。最好是我們99.99% 的感官記憶在一瞬間消失。為了生存和享受美好的生活，我們不需要對我們的生活進行完整的高分辨率的經(jīng)驗性記錄。

一小部分感官記憶存活下來并轉化為短期記憶。短期記憶也是短暫的，持續(xù)時間大約在10秒到30秒之間。在某些情況下，它可能持續(xù)一分鐘。短期記憶的能力是極其有限的。關于這種能力極限的典型研究在哈佛大學教授喬治 · 米勒的經(jīng)典論文《神奇的數(shù)字7，正負2... 》中達到了頂峰。他提出，我們只能記住七件事情，比如電話號碼的數(shù)字，只能記住幾秒鐘。這個極限是我們所有人都能感同身受的人類體驗。

如果一個新的記憶非常重要，超過了幾秒鐘，它可能會儲存在你的長期記憶中，也許你會記住一輩子。但它是如何到達那里的呢？(稍后再詳談。)

我剛才描述的是 Atkinson-Shiffrin 內存模型或者多存儲模型。但是今天，認知心理學對記憶的工作原理有了更深入的理解。

存儲器的多存儲模型

存儲器的多存儲模型

讓我們花幾分鐘時間討論對多存儲模型的一個重要增強。工作記憶模型(WMM) ，由 Baddely 和 Hitch 在1974年首次提出。在隨后的幾十年里，它得到了進一步的發(fā)展，直到今天，它仍然被廣泛接受，并得到了大量可靠的研究支持。WMM 重新定義了多存儲模型的短期內存部分，并將其分解為一系列組件。

工作記憶是高級認知功能最深刻的屬性之一。它是實現(xiàn)目標的關鍵。工作記憶是對信息的短期存儲，它與我們當前正在做的事情和下一步將要做的事情有關。我們利用工作記憶和其他高級認知功能，如認知靈活性(在不同任務和概念之間轉換的能力)來幫助我們決定完成任務的最佳方法。具體來說，我們把工作記憶和其他高級認知功能結合起來作為工具。這些工具使我們能夠整合我們當前的外部經(jīng)驗，恢復長期記憶和知識。我們利用這些信息來解釋、分析、操縱和做出判斷，從而塑造我們的行為。

工作記憶模型說明及其在記憶工作中的適用性。

工作記憶模型增強了我們對短期記憶的理解。工作記憶是我們利用中央執(zhí)行機制集中注意力的地方。語音循環(huán)允許我們短暫地存儲和回放傳入的聽覺信息。視覺空間畫板允許我們簡單地存儲和重放傳入的視覺信息。情景緩沖區(qū)是我們處理想法、新輸入和記憶的地方。它是“我們長期 ROM 的隨機存儲器”，被認為是工作記憶和長期記憶之間的連接器。

WMM 完善了我們對短期記憶的理解，以及記憶是如何儲存在長期記憶中的。最初的 WMM 描述了三個部分: 中央執(zhí)行系統(tǒng)，以及兩個所謂的“從系統(tǒng)”: 視空間畫板和語音環(huán)路。自1974年以來，WMM 得到了擴展和完善。這里是我們目前對工作記憶理解的概述和總結。

中央執(zhí)行官

中央執(zhí)行系統(tǒng)是一個多方面的系統(tǒng)，“監(jiān)督”工作記憶的控制。它使我們能夠將注意力集中在當前感興趣的“事物”上，同時抑制其他不相關的“事物”

中央執(zhí)行機構的說明，集中注意力和分流。

這些“事物”可以是外部世界中的某種東西，也可以是內部實體，如記憶或概念。它也使我們有能力協(xié)調多個任務之間的表現(xiàn)，因為在我們的現(xiàn)代日常生活中，我們很少只做一件事。我們必須能夠同時應用多種記憶或學到的概念。最后，它使我們能夠檢索長期記憶，這樣我們就可以應用并處理這些檢索到的記憶，以實現(xiàn)我們當前的目標。

視覺空間畫板

視覺空間畫板通常被稱為“心靈之眼”，是第一個“從屬系統(tǒng)”

視覺空間畫板插圖。

畫板是你在腦海中想象當前經(jīng)歷或視覺記憶的地方。例如，如果我要求你描述走過你的房子的經(jīng)驗，你會在你的“心靈的眼睛”描繪它，因為你描述它。這個畫板由兩部分組成。有一個可視緩存，存儲但不處理光學信息。

此外，還有內在的記錄器，可以排練和重放視覺、空間和運動數(shù)據(jù)。它把它傳遞給中央行政部門。我們理所當然地認為，我們擁有這種神奇的能力，能夠用“心靈之眼”將我們的視覺記憶形象化，但是有些人，無論是基于后天獲得的基礎，如大腦創(chuàng)傷，還是基于先天基礎，患有失語癥，無法想象已經(jīng)逝去的愛人或日出。

語音回路

語音回路也由兩部分組成: 語音存儲的聽覺記憶痕跡在大約兩秒鐘內迅速衰減，以及我們利用發(fā)音過程延長存儲的聽覺痕跡的壽命。

語音回路圖解。

發(fā)音過程用于“排練”，包括“內心聲音”和“內耳”之間的“內部對話”

想想你是如何一遍又一遍地默念一個電話號碼，直到你找到一支筆，把它寫下來。存儲中最多2秒的“磁帶”的限制可能是7 +/-2規(guī)則的基礎。

從系統(tǒng)的獨立運行

有趣的是，這兩個從系統(tǒng)的運行幾乎就好像它們存在于一個多微處理器 CPU 的不同核心上。他們每個人一次只能處理一個任務，不能同時處理多個任務。但是因為它們是位于大腦解剖學上不同區(qū)域的獨立系統(tǒng)，它們可以在各自的任務上并行運作。

這就是為什么，例如，我們可能很難記住一個電話號碼告訴我們在嘈雜的咖啡館: 語音循環(huán)已經(jīng)參與由于背景聲音。但是，我們可以很容易地同時回憶起愛人的聲音和面孔，因為這些任務分別利用兩個奴隸系統(tǒng)。由于這些系統(tǒng)位于不同的解剖區(qū)域，我們也可以通過研究只影響一個從屬系統(tǒng)的腦損傷患者來證明它們的分離性。對腦損傷患者的研究在認知心理學中被廣泛用于定位功能所在的位置。

情景緩沖

第四個組件是在2000年添加到 WMM 的。幕式緩沖器還沒有得到與前三個組件相同程度的驗證，但是看起來總體上是可靠的。

緩沖區(qū)的容量有限，可以作為存儲連貫敘述的機制，將語音循環(huán)、視覺空間畫板或者其他來源的輸入整合在一起。它添加了各種按時間順序排列的時間戳，以創(chuàng)建一個幾乎像電影一樣的記錄。

我們有意識地進入情節(jié)緩沖區(qū)，這樣我們就可以利用它的內容來幫助完成當前的任務。情景緩沖也可能是記憶在短期和長期儲存之間交換的基礎。

海馬體

海馬體是大腦顳葉的一部分，它對短時記憶(存儲在情景緩沖區(qū)中)轉化為長時記憶至關重要。如果你的海馬體像亨利 · 莫萊森那樣被移除，你將無法創(chuàng)造新的長期記憶。

長期記憶的例證。

我們的工作記憶只有一小部分被長期儲存起來。這通過一個稱為整合的過程發(fā)生。當我們不那么積極地參與物質的時候，鞏固似乎是最好的，比如當我們睡覺、放松或散步的時候。在這段時間內，海馬體內的各種過程潛意識地將情節(jié)緩沖物的內容編碼到新皮層。這種重復創(chuàng)造了新的突觸連接，并加強了現(xiàn)有的連接，創(chuàng)造了被稱為記憶痕跡的小組神經(jīng)元，它們作為一個單元存儲記憶。此外，這些記憶痕跡也被編碼在前額葉區(qū)---- 大腦的一個區(qū)域，這個區(qū)域能夠提高執(zhí)行功能，突出了我們的記憶對于塑造我們在復雜任務中的行為是多么重要。

只有通過慢速閱讀才能達到深度學習

現(xiàn)在我們已經(jīng)對記憶是如何工作的有了一個良好的基礎和理解，我們可以集中討論為什么慢速閱讀對于深度學習是必要的。

我們一開始就說過，“為知識而閱讀”不是簡單地用吸塵器吸取書頁上的單詞，然后“砰!”，想法，事實，和概念將得到歸檔，在您的長期記憶和可用的未來使用。事實上，快速閱讀擁護者吹捧的成功的障礙是在快速閱讀時保持足夠的理解力。撇開他們的說法是不真實的不說，這個標準太低了。

最終，為知識而閱讀應該導致獲得持久的、持久的知識，這些知識可以在未來用于解決生活的挑戰(zhàn)，創(chuàng)造新的想法和綜合新的解決方案。僅僅理解和獲得持久知識之間的差距是一個跨越鴻溝的飛躍。

如果你被要求寫下你所學到的東西，或者這本書是關于什么的，你在哪里讀過多少本書，你連一張紙都填不滿？我敢打賭，你讀過的很多書中，只能說，像伍迪 · 艾倫(Woody Allen)那樣，“它涉及到俄羅斯”，但不會再多了。

將概念性的理解轉化為知識需要時間。使用像“每分鐘字數(shù)”這樣的簡單指標可以計算出更多的時間我們學到的所有新的事實和概念都需要與我們現(xiàn)有的知識結合起來。我們的頭腦中有一個知識網(wǎng)絡，類似于互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。增加我們的知識需要在我們已經(jīng)知道的事物上建立新的心理聯(lián)系。

通過慢慢閱讀，你可以留出必要的時間來雇傭你的中央執(zhí)行官。你需要集中注意力，利用語音回路和視覺空間模板。你所遇到的新的想法、概念和事實必須被移動到情節(jié)緩沖區(qū)中，在那里你可以玩弄和操縱它們。你可以對工作記憶進行的最好的操作就是元認知。

當你閱讀的時候一定要運用你的元認知能力。

當你閱讀的時候一定要運用你的元認知能力。

元認知通常被描述為“思考你的思維”但這只是故事的一部分。元認知也是有目的地自我調節(jié)你做什么來提高你的學習。

例如，當你閱讀的時候，你應該有一個內部對話，用你的內部聲音(語音循環(huán))來保證你所看到和閱讀的單詞的質量(視覺空間畫板)。當你閱讀的時候，你應該有意識地問自己一些問題，比如: “我是不是注意力集中了，或者我的思想偏離了方向?”“這說得通嗎?”“我已經(jīng)知道什么來支持或反駁這個觀點?”既然這個概念不清楚，我應該怎樣做才能更好地理解這個概念等等。

然后，你應該利用這種自我審問的結果來規(guī)范你下一步的行動，掌握這些材料。雖然研究沒有完全肯定這一點，但是中央執(zhí)行和工作記憶的組成部分是元認知監(jiān)控和自我調節(jié)裝置的核心。

如何閱讀元認知

為了激發(fā)元認知所需的內部對話，舉一些例子來說明你在閱讀時可以用來激發(fā)內部對話的問題，可能會有所幫助。

你可以把下面這組問題作為備忘單和培養(yǎng)皿，用來擴展你自己的元認知問題目錄。

這是我想要或需要記住的東西嗎？

這是否讓我想起了另一個不相關的知識領域？

我還能想到其他與這個概念相矛盾的事情嗎？

還有什么我已經(jīng)知道的事情支持這個概念的真實性？

我能想到這方面的實際例子嗎？

這是我第一次遇到這種有價值的知識嗎？

我還在哪里遇到過這種想法？

以前還有誰教過我這個？

我有多確定這是真的和正確的？

這和我已經(jīng)知道的其他事情有關嗎？

在生活中，我還能在哪里找到這樣的例子呢？

你還想到了什么其他相關的概念？

對我來說理解這一點有多難？

如果這是一個什么，那么我能解釋為什么嗎？

這些信息如何應用到我的生活中？

為什么知道這些很重要？

關于這個話題我還知道些什么？

關于這個主題，我還想學些什么？

我完全明白這一點嗎？

我能把它分解成更小的部分嗎？

我該怎么向一個孩子解釋呢？

這和我所知道的關于這個主題的其他事情有什么關系呢？

這個消息可靠嗎？

這完全可信嗎？

如果有什么讓我感到驚訝的話，那就是什么？

這很容易理解嗎？

我覺得這有趣嗎? 為什么？

我怎樣才能把它應用到現(xiàn)實世界中呢？

為什么知道這些很重要？

我是否有興趣了解更多這方面的信息？

因為這個原因，我還想了解更多什么？

這對我來說意味著什么？

為了更好地理解這一點，我是否需要咨詢其他來源？

這給我?guī)砹耸裁磫栴}？

這有什么更廣泛的含義嗎？

為什么這很重要？

我還能用什么其他方式來表達這個概念呢？

這有沒有讓你想起什么例子呢？

我想永遠記住這些嗎？

我是否應該咨詢其他來源？

我該如何簡明扼要地總結這一點呢？

我相信你在某種程度上應用了元認知，但是有些人100% 被動地閱讀，卻得不到任何回報。當你閱讀的時候，試著有意識地問自己更多的問題。自言自語吧！

當你花時間閱讀材料時，元認知閱讀會讓你放慢速度。但是慢速閱讀是一種更深刻的閱讀體驗，它是大多數(shù)精英學習者使用的方法論。

我敦促你擁抱慢讀，努力讀很多好書，慢慢地，深入地讀。

快速閱讀有助于略讀，但有損于理解。

慢速閱讀是深度學習的途徑。但我們不是在討論慢速被動閱讀。精英學習者之所以能夠成功地進行慢速閱讀，是因為他們通過元認知積極地參與閱讀材料。他們利用自己的工作記憶進行內部對話，以控制自己閱讀文本的體驗。他們的注意力不僅集中在頁面上，還集中在情景緩沖上，在這里他們操縱概念和質量保證體驗。他們決定了這些材料與他們現(xiàn)有的知識和心智模型的匹配程度。他們通過自我調節(jié)和跟蹤來填補在閱讀過程中發(fā)現(xiàn)的學習空白。

慢速閱讀是為深度學習者準備的。如果你打算花時間讀書獲取知識，那就花時間去做這些工作，讓你的錢物有所值。

如果你想大量擴展你的知識，成為一個貪婪的慢讀者。

Slow-Reading is the New Deep Learning

I was just a youth when Evelyn Wood debuted her speed-reading course back in 1959. For years, I was fascinated with the prospect of getting my reading assignments over with as quickly as possible so that I could get on to the fun part of life. Obviously, with this attitude, I wasn’t much of a student during my K–12 years. Fortunately,?I massively turned that around. The Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics course became a huge sensation. So much so that the Kennedy White House sent staff members to take the course. JFK was?(falsely) said to be a speed-reader. The course still exists, even years after Ms. Wood’s passing.

About six years ago, a spate of?speed-reading apps?suddenly appeared and went viral. Most of them are based upon the concept of Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP). These apps control what your eyes see and eliminate the natural process where we glance back at words we just read, so-called?regressions, to reread them. The problem is that these regressions are one of the keys to reading comprehension. Imagine that your mind drifts for even a split second, and your eyes are blocked from glancing back at the words that you just read.

Other strategies of speed-reading training include coaching to eliminate subvocalizations—the way we think out the sounds of the words we’re reading. In fact, we do more than simply?think?of the sounds. We also make subtle, often imperceptible movements of our tongue and vocal apparatus as we read. We usually can’t perceive subvocalizations, but electrode sensors in the lab can detect them. Despite even the most deliberate effort of speed-readers to quash subvocalizations, they are impossible to eliminate, and we wouldn’t really want to eliminate them even if we could! They are an essential part of the natural mechanism we use to process and comprehend what we read. Reading, after all, is not the simple vacuuming of words from a page into our brains. It’s is a far more complex process — involving, at its very core, language comprehension.

The typical educated adult reads somewhere between 250–400 WPM. Speed-readers aspire to double, triple, or even massively increase their base reading rate.?Research paper?after?research paper?has concluded that?as reading speed goes up as a result of effortful speed-reading, comprehension goes down. Speed-reading has its use case. It’s sensible to use it (if you’re capable) when you want to skim and get the gist of a text. But it doesn’t make sense to skim-read when your goal is to acquire knowledge. Bottom line: comprehension goes down as your reading speed goes up. It eventually gets to the point that you’re really just skimming.

But there is a far more profound issue at hand that most critics overlook when they bash speed-reading. Reading with the intention of learning involves far more than achieving simple comprehension. Comprehension is not equivalent to knowledge acquisition. You must employ metacognition. You have to read slowly in order to enable and activate the processes that support knowledge acquisition as you read. If you’re reading to learn, you need to engage with the content and associate the new concepts with your existing knowledge. Only then can you install new knowledge in your mind and be able to utilize this knowledge in the future. You have to do the work to learn, and “the work” has to be the right work done correctly.

Slow-reading is for scholars. The more slow-reading you do, the more your knowledge base will expand.

If you want to massively expand your knowledge, become a voracious slow reader.

I’ve written before about?how to read academic content?and remember it forever. Here we’re going to review how to slow read and intentionally learn. But first, I am going to teach you how our minds acquire new knowledge and memories.

How We Learn New Things
The central executive
The visuospatial sketchpad
The phonological loop
The independent operation of the slave systems
The episodic buffer
The hippocampusYou Can Only Achieve Deep Learning by Slow-ReadingHow to Read Metacognitively

How We Learn New Things

What follows is an outline of the most widely accepted scientific views of learning and memory from a cognitive psychology perspective. Please be aware that for every proposed and even heavily supported model, there are always contrary views in the scientific community. Other models for understanding how memory works are continuously being proposed. This section is for the curious who want to take a look under-the-hood and understand how we learn.

I’ve written before about?how memory and learning work?where I took a mostly neuroscience perspective, but here we’re going to look at memory and learning from a cognitive psychology point of view.

As we encounter experiences in the world, we store information initially in?Sensory Memory.?Sensory memory?receives the sum total of all sensory input, and it’s an overwhelming firehose of data. Imagine for a minute walking into a stadium and in a split second seeing a thousand faces come into focus, and many more thousands of blurry faces in the distance. At the same time, there is a massive amount of non-visual sensory input. There are all kinds of smells. You are also experiencing other sensory inputs in the same instant such as your sense of balance, touch, proprioception, vibration, and temperature. How can you store this continuous massive data input for the rest of your life? Would you even want to? Sensory memory input is overwhelming and fortunately, it has a very short half-life. You can only store less than a second of it at a time before it vanishes. It’s probably best that 99.99% of our sensory memory evaporates in a split second. We don’t need a complete high-resolution experiential recording of our lives in order to survive and enjoy a wonderful life.

A small percentage of sensory memory does survive and is passed to?short-term memory. Short-term memory is also fleeting, lasting somewhere on the order of 10 seconds up to 30 seconds. In certain circumstances, it may last up to a minute. Short-term memory is extremely limited in capacity. The canonical research of this capacity limit culminated in the classical paper “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two…” by Harvard Professor George Miller. He proposed that we can only remember about seven things, such as the digits of a phone number, for only a few fleeting seconds. This limit is a human experience to which we can all relate.

If a new memory is important enough to remember beyond a few seconds, it may get stored in your?long-term memory, and perhaps you will remember it for a lifetime. But how does it get there? (More about this later.)

What I’ve just described is the?Atkinson-Shiffrin memory model?or Multi-Store Model of memory. But today, cognitive psychology has a much deeper understanding of how memory works.

Let’s discuss for a few minutes an important enhancement to the Multi-Store Model. The?Working Memory Model?(WMM), initially proposed by?Baddely and Hitch in 1974. It has been enhanced over the subsequent decades and even today it is well-accepted and has a lot of solid research to support it.?The WMM redefines the short-term memory portion of the Multi-Store Model?and breaks it into a series of components.

Working memory?is one of the most profound attributes of higher cognitive functioning. It is critical for achieving goals. Working memory is short-term storage of information, which is relevant to what we are currently doing and what we’ll do next. We employ our working memory in conjunction with other higher cognitive functions such as?cognitive flexibility?(the ability to shift between different tasks and concepts) to help us decide on the best approach to complete tasks. Specifically, we use working memory in conjunction with other higher cognitive functions as tools. These tools enable us to integrate our current external experiences and revive long-term memories and knowledge. We take that information and use it to interpret, analyze, manipulate, and make judgments to shape our behavior.

The WMM has refined our understanding of short-term memory and how memories get stored in long-term memory. The original WMM described three components:?The Central Executive,?and two so-called “slave systems”:?The Visuospatial Sketchpad?and?The Phonological Loop. Since 1974 the WMM has been expanded and refined. Here is an overview and summary of our current understanding of working memory.

The central executive

The central executive is a multi-faceted system that “oversees” control of working memory. It enables us to focus our attention on the current “thing” of interest while suppressing other irrelevant “things.”

These “things” could be something in the external world or they could be an internal entity such as a memory or concept. It also enables our capability to coordinate performance between several tasks, because in our modern daily lives we are very rarely only doing one thing. We have to be capable of applying multiple memories or learned concepts simultaneously. Finally, it enables us to retrieve long-term memories, so that we can apply and work with these retrieved memories to achieve our current goals.

The visuospatial sketchpad

Commonly referred to as “the mind’s eye”, the visuospatial sketchpad is the first of the “slave systems.”

The sketchpad is where you mentally visualize a current experience or a visual memory. For example, if I ask you to describe the experience of walking through your house, you will picture it in your “mind’s eye” as you describe it. This sketchpad is comprised of two components. There is a?visual cache?that stores but does not process optical information.

Additionally, there is the?inner scribe?that rehearses and replays visual, spatial, and motion data. It passes it along to the central executive. We take for granted that we have this magical ability to be able to visualize our optical memories with “the mind’s eye”, but some people, either on an acquired basis such as brain trauma or on a congenital basis, suffer from?aphantasia?and can’t visualize a departed loved one or a sunrise.

The phonological loop

The phonological loop is also comprised of two parts: a?phonological store?of auditory memory traces that rapidly decays in about two seconds and an?articulatory process?that we utilize to prolong the life of auditory traces in the store.

The articulatory process is used for “rehearsal”, consisting of an “internal dialog” between our “inner voice” and our “inner ear.”

Think of how you silently repeat a phone number over and over until you can find a pen and write it down. This limit of up to 2 seconds of “tape” in the store is probably the basis of the 7 +/- 2 rule.

The independent operation of the slave systems

It’s interesting that the two slave systems operate almost as if they exist on separate cores on a multi-microprocessor CPU. They each can handle only one task at a time and cannot multitask. But because they are separate systems located in anatomically distinct regions of the brain, they can function in parallel on their own tasks.

This is why, for example, we may struggle to remember a phone number told to us in a noisy cafe: the phonological loop is already engaged due to the background sounds. But we can easily recall the voice and face of a loved one at the same time since these tasks separately utilize the two slave systems. Because these systems reside in different anatomic regions, we can also prove their separateness by studying patients with brain lesions which only affect one of the slave systems. The study of patients with brain lesions is widely used in cognitive psychology to localize where functionality resides.

The episodic buffer

A fourth component?was added to the WMM in 2000.?The Episodic Buffer?has not yet received the same degree of validation as the first three components but does appear to be generally sound.

The buffer has a limited capacity and serves as a mechanism for storing a coherent narrative that integrates the inputs from the phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad, and perhaps other sources. It adds chronological timestamps of sorts to create an almost movie-like record.

We consciously access the episodic buffer so we can use its content to assist the completion of the current task. The episodic buffer may also underlie how memories are exchanged between short and long-term stores.

The hippocampus

The hippocampus—a part of the brain in the temporal lobe—is essential for the conversion of short-term memory (stored in the episodic buffer) into long-term memory. If your hippocampi were removed like?Henry Molaison’s, you would be incapable of creating new long-term memories.

Only a small portion of our working memory makes the trip into long-term storage. This occurs through a process called?consolidation. Consolidation seems to happen best when we are not as actively engaged with the material, such as when we’re sleeping, relaxing, or taking a walk. Subconsciously, during these times, various processes within the hippocampi replay and ‘encode’ the contents of the episodic buffer to the neocortex. This repetition creates new synaptic connections and strengthens existing connections to create small groups of neurons known as?engrams, which together as a unit store the memory. Furthermore, these engrams are also encoded in the prefrontal areas, the region of the brain which enables higher executive functioning, highlighting how important our memories are to shaping our behavior in complex tasks.

You Can Only Achieve Deep Learning by Slow-Reading

Now that we have a good foundation and understanding of how memory works, we can focus on why slow-reading is necessary to achieve deep learning.

We said at the beginning that “reading for knowledge” doesn’t happen by simply vacuuming the words of the page and “bam!”, the ideas, facts, and concepts will get filed in your long-term memory and available for future use. In fact, the bar for success touted by speed-reading advocates is the maintenance of?adequate comprehension?as you speed-read. Putting aside that their claims are untrue, that bar is too low.

Ultimately, reading for knowledge should result in acquiring durable, lasting knowledge that can be used in the future to solve life’s challenges, create new ideas, and synthesize novel solutions. The gap between mere comprehension and the acquisition of durable knowledge is a leap across a chasm.

How many books have you read where if you were asked to write about what you learned, or what the book is about, you couldn’t fill a single sheet of paper? I bet that there are quite a lot of books you’ve read where you could only say, like Woody Allen, “it involves Russia,” but not much more.

Converting conceptual understanding into knowledge requires time. More time than can be calculated using a simple metric like “words per minute.”?All new facts and concepts we learn need to be integrated with our existing knowledge.?We have a web of knowledge in our minds, akin to the internet. Adding to our knowledge requires making new mental connections to what we already know.

By reading slowly, you allow for the requisite time to employ your central executive. You need to focus your attention, utilize the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad. New ideas, concepts and facts you’re encountering must be moved into the episodic buffer where you can play with and manipulate them. And the best kind of manipulation you can employ with your working memory is metacognition.

Metacognition is often described as “thinking about your thinking.” But that is only part of the story. Metacognition is also about purposely self-regulating what you do to enhance your learning.

For example, as you read, you should be having an internal dialog using your inner voice (phonological loop) to perform quality assurance of the words that you are seeing and reading (visuospatial sketchpad). As you read, you should be consciously asking yourself questions such as: “Am I paying attention or has my mind drifted?”; “Does this make sense?”; “What do I already know that supports or refutes this?”; “Since this is unclear, what should I do to better understand this concept?”; and so forth.

Then you should use the results of this self-interrogation to regulate your next steps to master the material. While research has not confirmed this with absolute certainty, the?central executive?and the components of working memory are at the core of the apparatus for metacognitive monitoring and self-regulation.

How to Read Metacognitively

To trigger the internal dialog needed for metacognition, it may help to have some examples of the kinds of questions you can employ to stimulate an internal dialogue as you read.

You can use this following set of questions as both a cheat sheet and a petri dish for growing your own catalog of metacognitive questions.

• Is this something that I want or need to memorize?

• Does this remind me of anything in another unrelated domain of knowledge?

• Can I think of anything else I know that contradicts this concept?

• What other things that I already know support the veracity of this concept?

• Can I think of any practical examples of this?

• Is this the first time that I’ve come across this nugget of knowledge?

• Where else have I come across this idea?

• Who else has tried to teach me this before?

• How certain am I that this is true and correct?

• Does this relate to anything else that I already know?

• Where else in life can I find an example of this?

• What other related concepts come to mind?

• How difficult was it for me to grasp this?

• If this is a WHAT, then can I explain the WHY?

• How can this information be applied in my life?

• Why is this important to know?

• What else do I know about this topic?

• What else would I like to learn about this subject?

• Do I fully understand this?

• Can I break this down into smaller parts?

• How would I explain this to a child?

• How does this fit in with the rest of what I know about this subject?

• Is this information reliable?

• Is this totally believable?

• What, if anything, surprises me about this?

• Is this easy to grasp?

• Do I find this interesting and why?

• How can I apply this it the real world?

• Why is this important to know?

• Am I curious to learn more about this?

• What else might I want to learn more about because of this?

• What does this mean to me?

• Do I need to consult another source to better understand this?

• What questions does this raise for me?

• Does this have any broader implications?

• Why is this important?

• What other ways could I express this concept?

• Does this bring any examples to mind?

• Would I like to be able to remember this forever?

• Should I consult another source?

• How would I succinctly summarize this?

I’m sure that you apply metacognition to one degree or another, but some people read 100% passively and get nothing in return for the time spent. Try to consciously and deliberately ask yourself more questions as you read. Talk to yourself!

Metacognitive reading slows you down as you take the time to engage with the material. But slow-reading is a more profound reading experience and it is the methodology used by most elite learners.

I urge you to embrace slow-reading. Strive to read a lot of great books, slowly and deeply.

Speed-reading is good for skimming but detracts from comprehension.

Slow-reading is the path to deep learning. But we’re not talking about slow passive reading. The reason why elite learners succeed with slow-reading is that they actively engage with the material through metacognition. They use their working memory to have an internal conversation to quality control their experience with the text. They focus their attention not only on the page but also on the episodic buffer where they manipulate the concepts and quality-assure the experience. They determine where the material fits in with their existing knowledge and mental models. They self-regulate and follow up to fill in the gaps in their learning that were uncovered as they read.

Slow-reading is for deep learners. If you are going to invest time reading for knowledge, take the time and do the work to get your money’s worth.

If you want to massively expand your knowledge, become a voracious slow reader.