The Psychology of Repetitive Reading

by A. K. Lee, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Psychology and Psychiatry
University Medical College
Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Introduction

Human beings can be induced to carry out many kinds of repetitive actions. In this experiment, the author asked 200 subjects to read a very repetitive essay. The essay consisted of a single paragraph repeated several times. Each subject was told beforehand that the essay was highly repetitive. The result was surprising. Ninety-two percent of the subjects read the essay completely from beginning to end.

The Experiment

Human beings can be induced to carry out many kinds of repetitive actions. In this experiment, the author asked 200 subjects to read a very repetitive essay. The essay consisted of a single paragraph repeated several times. Each subject was told beforehand that the essay was highly repetitive. The result was surprising. Ninety-two percent of the subjects read the essay completely from beginning to end.

Results and Discussion

Human beings can be induced to carry out many kinds of repetitive actions. In this experiment, the author asked 200 subjects to read a very repetitive essay. The essay consisted of a single paragraph repeated several times. Each subject was told beforehand that the essay was highly repetitive. The result was surprising. Ninety-two percent of the subjects read the essay completely from beginning to end.

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