Spritz Speed Reading Technology: Helpful, But Not Immediately

Spritz Speed Reading Technology: Helpful, But Not Immediately

This was an exercise in being able to design and execute a field experiment from scratch.

The ability to read is a strong predictor of post­secondary and career success. As the amount of information available continues to grow at an exponential rate, it stands to reason that a faster reading pace will further improve one’s success. To this end, numerous speed reading technologies have emerged in the last decade, along with studies heralding faster reading speeds with no diminished comprehension. We attempt to replicate one such study, which claims users of speed reading technology saw an immediate improvement in reading time, no loss in comprehension, and an affinity toward the technology. We conduct a within­subjects experiment where subjects were given tasks that involved both traditional reading, and reading with a speed reading technology. While readers did see an improvement in their reading speed with the speed reading technology, their comprehension rates fell on first use. While not ruling out the potential of speed reading over time, these results suggest that the benefits of speed reading technology may not be immediate. We recommend that future research focus on the optimal method to acclimate readers to speed reading technology without sacrificing their reading comprehension. 

A paper was produced for this project and was based upon the study of human subjects; however, since the main focus of the course was to be able to design and execute a field experiment from scratch rather than publish original material, this project did not go through UC Berkeley's Institutional Review Board.