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ptong's picture

Reading

I don't know if this happens to everyone when they read a novel, but when I'm reading, sometimes I can't tell the difference between reading and imagining what is going on in the book. I have this "mental" image of what is happening as I read, but at the same time the images are clear and I "see" what is happening as if watching a movie inside my head. When we watch a movie, say "Harry Potter" some people may say "it's not as good as the book". But why can we say this if we're comparing text with images? I think it is because of the way we interpret the text into images in our brain that allow us to compare how we thought the book should be perceived in our mind to what it is like on a screen.

Maybe "reading" is similar to "daydreaming"? In both situations you have your eyes open yet you are less focused on what you are actually seeing, and more focused on another environment.

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