Has there ever been any objective studies or research performed on the
concept of PhotoReading? If so, what was found? Is it effective? Does
it do anything? Is it worth using, or is it a waste of time?

http://www.learningstrategies.com/PhotoReading/Home.html

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Clarification of Question by twotontim-ga on 18 Nov 2002 00:23 PST

Photoreading is a variant of Speed Reading. It has nothing to do with
Psychics and such.

Twotontim,

Normally, I wouldn't post a negative answer to this sort of question,
but, in this case, I think the indicators are strong enough to go
ahead and do so.

I see no mention of objective studies or scientifically valid research
on Photoreading. I see three types of mention of this subject:

1. Marketing sites for selling books and seminars on Photoreading. One
thing that seems to confirm the lack of scientific evidence that
Photoreading is effective is the lack of mention on these sites. If a
study proving its effectiveness was available, these sites would be
very likely to be jumping up and down about it.

Here is an example:
http://www.photoreading.com/
2. Photoreading is sometimes described as requiring an "altered form
of conciousness" to achieve. It is sometimes grouped with information
on Lucid Dreaming, hypnosis, Remote Viewing, etc. This is probably why
neilzero commented as he did.

3. Anecdotal evidence in both directions. A Groups search on Google
using "photoreading" turns up threads with people both swearing by
photoreading and insisting that it is pure drivel.

I do not, however, see any valid scientific studies on this topic.

- Hammer

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Request for Answer Clarification by twotontim-ga on 18 Nov 2002 12:28 PST

Hello Hammer,

   Thank you for your response. I should have been more clear in my
original question. I'm very sure that you are correct, and no
scientific studies have ever been performed on the "PhotoReading Whole
Mind System". What I'm interested in specifically is the
"PhotoReading" step of the system, which involves the reader looking
at the pages of the book without consciously focussing, and
(supposedly) allowing the subconscious to gather the information while
bypassing the conscious mind. The "altered form of consciousness" is
simply a relaxed non-focussed state.

   It is this idea of reading/gathering information directly to the
sub-conscious that I had originally intended to ask about with my
question. Having already read the book and being familiar with the
ideas, it never occurred to me that my question was vague. I apologize
for the confusion.

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Clarification of Answer by hammer-ga on 18 Nov 2002 12:45 PST

So, what you actually want are studies on the general concept of
learning by exposing the subconcious to information? Please confirm
that this is what you are looking for.

- Hammer

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Request for Answer Clarification by twotontim-ga on 18 Nov 2002 13:12 PST

Yes. As long as there were specific references to doing it in a visual
way (rather than exclusively audio subliminal tapes or such), that
would answer my question.

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Clarification of Answer by hammer-ga on 18 Nov 2002 14:59 PST

Most of the research done on this subject is along the lines of the
effect of brief subliminal messages, like that used in advertising
until the practice was illegalized. The experiments have to do with
emotional response to brief messages or comprehension of very small
amounts of information. This site has a long list of the studies done
and a summary of the findings using visual, audio and other stimuli.

Peripheral Perception
Information Processing Without Awareness
http://www.progressiveawareness.com/research/Peripheral_Desk_Reference.html

Again, I do not see studies for subconscious processing of large
amounts of information (like an entire page of a book) from sources
that are not biased. Subliminal learning is said to usually take the
form of emotional responses, behavioral changes or small memeory aids,
not processing large chunks of information. The most recent studies
are still working with the subconscious effects of very small amounts
of information.

Searches to try:
"subliminal learning" visual
subconscious "information processing"
subconscious "subliminal learning"
"subliminal messages" visual

- Hammer

Is this something like palm reading, horiscopes, and tea leaf reading
all of which modern science considers worse than useless?   Neil