Swiss typography expert, Renato Casutt, has created an app that puts ‘artificial fixation points’ into text to help guide readers through it.
The artificial fixation points are the first few letters of the word which are bolded or highlighted.
Researchers of Bionic Reading explain the brain reads faster than the eyes, and the bolded letters allow the brain to recognise the words faster, using knowledge of words read before.
“Your brain is a super computer and does a very good job at reading. Bionic Reading revises texts so that the most concise parts of words are highlighted,” the Bionic Reading website says.
“This guides the eye over the text and the brain remembers previously learned words more quickly.”
The method has gone viral, with many claiming it has changed the way they read.
“It’s incredible how reading this feels like finally unlocking 100% of your brain,” said one user.
“I have adhd and dyslexia. I found this easier to follow and comprehend. It’s ok if it’s not for you, but relax with the high horsery,” said another.
However, not all were convinced it was a step in the right direction for reading.
“This is an abomination, a sickening ‘technoperversion’ of the human experience of reading with leisure and thoughtfulness, turning it into another soulless act of efficiency and speed, and calling this ‘progress’,” complained one reader.
A prototype of the Bionic Reading method is currently available in certain apps, but the website has a free converter for texts.