Although the sharpest perception occurs at the fovea, images that are off-centre are still seen, but less clearly. This peripheral vision performs a most valuable function during reading. Words that lie ahead of the current point of fixation will be partially received by the eye and transmitted to the brain. This is possible because words can be recognised when they are in peripheral vision and the individual letters are too blurred to be recognised. On the basis of this slightly blurred view of what is coming, the brain will tell the eye where to move to next. Thus the eye does not move along in a regular series of jumps, but skips redundant words and concentrates on the most significant (useful and distinguishing) words of the text.

Immediate memory span depends on the number of ‘chunks’ rather than the information content. When we read, we can take in about five chunks at a time. A chunk may be a single letter, a syllable, a word, or even a small phrase - the easier it is to understand, the larger will be the chunks.

In the case of a skilled reader, the fixation points tend to be concentrated towards the middle of a line of print. When the eye goes to a new line, it does not usually start at the beginning, instead it starts a word or two from the edge. The brain has a good idea of what is to come from the sense of the previous lines and only needs to check with peripheral vision that the first few words are as anticipated. Similarly, the eye usually makes its last fixation a word or two short of the end of a line, again making use of peripheral vision to check that the last few words are as expected.

Taken From: The Speed Reading Course