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Speed reading slows comprehension, study says
The Boston Globe: In July 2007, six-time World Speed Reading Champion Anne Jones read the final Harry Potter novel in 47 minutes flat, whizzing through 4,200 words per minute. Most people read about 200 to 400 words per minute. The idea of improving that rate is tantalizing: Imagine zipping through a novel over lunch, or clearing your inbox in minutes. ... The review, published last month in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, was led by UCSD cognitive psychologist Keith Rayner, who spent more than four decades studying the process of reading. Read the whole story: The Boston Globe
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Getting to Yes Is Easier Than Saying No
Over 100 million viewers tune in for the NFL’s championship Super Bowl game and musical Halftime Show. Historically, the NFL foots the bill for the musical entertainment; but in 2015 the NFL proposed that top talent like Katy Perry and Coldplay should instead pay them millions of dollars for the privilege of performing during the Super Bowl. Katy Perry and other performers universally refused the deal. After all, Perry already brings in millions from her concerts and record sales. Instead of holding out and demanding that Perry “pay to play,” the NFL eventually conceded, offering the popstar a prime spot as the halftime headliner, free of charge.
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How to Raise a Creative Child. Step One: Back Off
The New York Times: THEY learn to read at age 2, play Bach at 4, breeze through calculus at 6, and speak foreign languages fluently by 8. Their classmates shudder with envy; their parents rejoice at winning the lottery. But to paraphrase T. S. Eliot, their careers tend to end not with a bang, but with a whimper. Consider the nation’s most prestigious award for scientifically gifted high school students, the Westinghouse Science Talent Search, called the Super Bowl of science by one American president. From its inception in 1942 until 1994, the search recognized more than 2000 precocious teenagers as finalists.
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Seeing Exemplary Peer Work Can Undermine Student Performance
From academic honors to "employee of the month" awards, we are regularly exposed to and made aware of the exemplary performance of others. Many believe such recognition not only acknowledges the individual but also motivates others to strive toward greater achievement. But new research suggests that exposure to exceptional performance can sometimes have the opposite results, effectively discouraging people from higher-level performance.
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Not All Psychopaths Are Criminals – Some Psychopathic Traits Are Actually Linked To Success
IFL Science: Tom Skeyhill was an acclaimed Australian war hero, known as “the blind solider-poet.” During the monumental World War I battle of Gallipoli, he was a flag signaler, among the most dangerous of all positions. After being blinded when a bomb shell detonated at his feet, he was transferred out. After the war he penned a popular book of poetry about his combat experience. He toured Australia and the United States, reciting his poetry to rapt audiences. President Theodore Roosevelt appeared on stage with him and said, “I am prouder to be on the stage with Tom Skeyhill than with any other man I know.” His blindness suddenly disappeared following a medical procedure in America.
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Speed reading claims discredited by new report
The Guardian: Despite the wishes of all those of us with a teetering to-be-read pile, companies and apps that promise to rapidly increase reading speeds are on a hiding to nothing, according to new research. A review paper, which has just been published in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, analyses the latest research into the reading process, and what it means for speed-reading programmes and apps.
