Observations
I just started reading The Way of Excellence by Brad Stulberg. In a section on competence, I read the line, “In most activities, you’re got to make things happen before you can let them happen.” I then thought of the four phases of competence I first heard about in Jackson Dahl’s podcast Dialectic. Then, in the very next paragraph he writes about the four phases of competence.
A few questions:
- Did I “see” that on the page before consciously reading it?
- Or did I have enough context to predict what was coming next?
- Or a mix of both?
I’ve had other instances of this, too.
I remember reading about left brain/right brain tests where people with brain hemisphere impairments (or a brain hemisphere disconnection?) could “know” something displayed on one side of a divider that they couldn’t consciously “see.” That feels similar, but different.
Paraphrasing Claude’s response
It was likely a mix of both. There may have been few things going on. Peripheral preview is one of them. You eyes don’t just focus on the exact word you’re reading but also the words and letters 7-15 characters ahead of where you’re reading.
Another factor was predictive priming, which means that the words were written in a way to set up the framework that followed. “…make things happen before you can let them happen” primes you to think of the four phases of competence.
The last was semantic cueing, which means that books like this one often structure sections like this: Explain a concept, then break down a framework. I’ve read books like this one before, so I probably picked up on that.
Claude also described the tests I wrote about as “split-brain patient studies.” Patients could not describe what was in the visual field of the opposite hemisphere, but it could be used to influence behavior. Not quite the same as the effect I observed, but similar - the studies dealt with unconscious knowing, reading deals with conscious knowing before you become fully aware of the words. I was thinking about the four phases of competence before I was fully aware of the words “four phases of competence” in the next paragraph.
Reflection
When I first paraphrased Claude’s response I misinterpreted that 7-15 characters number in the definition of peripheral reading. I thought it may also be 7-15 characters above and below, like a spotlight, but it’s more like looking at the ground in front of you while you’re walking.
I learned the correct term for “split-brain patient studies.” I’m wondering how the patients’ vision was blocked - was one eye covered, or was there a divider between their eyes?
I’m more clear on the difference between conscious knowing and unconscious knowing (what’s at the forefront of your mind vs. influences behavior without understanding), which is ironic because I’m going to read about conscious and unconscious competence/incompetence here shortly.
I wonder how much unconscious knowing happens in our day-to-day experience.
This also made me re-realize the difficulty of writing something in your own words. I’m glad I did, though - copy/pasting felt wrong and like I didn’t “earn” the knowledge.
Semantic cueing sounds familiar and I have a hunch that I’ll learn more about it in my Teaching Reading Across the Curriculum class. What does the word semantic mean? I think it means “structural.” I think there’s another word related to semantic. Pedantic, maybe? That doesn’t feel correct.
Also realizing that developing knowledge is endless. I could keep prompting and paraphrasing forever (which is kind of what Paolo Freire was saying with his whole “reading the world” concept).