Reading strategies: Visualise

Have you ever seen a film, or a TV series, after you read the book? Did the people in it look the way you imagined? The settings, rooms, environment - did they look the same in the film as they did to your inner eye when you were reading? Probably not. Because what’s happening inside your head when you are reading actively, is that you create your own images - you visualise.

And it’s not just images. You create feelings, smells, and tastes as well. Visualising when you read gives several benefits: if you are reading fiction, your visualisations help you make the book come alive, fill it with nuance and detail, including things that aren’t written. If you had already seen the film, before you read the book, you partly missed this chance to become a co-creator of the story. If you are an avid reader, now you might think that “I already do this, automatically, when I read”.

It’s probably true. But try it anyway: Stop, and visualise consciously. When you have read some way into the book, pause, close your eyes, and try to see the setting you are reading about in front of you. Is it indoors or outdoors? What do the walls look like?

Is there any furniture? What is it made of? Is it new or old? Who do you see? What are they wearing?

What colours, fabrics? Old and worn, or new and shiny? What do the faces look like? Young and smooth, or wrinkled and aged? Determined, angry, open, curious..?

When you take the time to pause from reading, and visualise, you get a chance to create more - and more detailed images. Just as with the other reading strategies, you can visualise not only when you read, but also before and after the reading. It’s not just when you read fiction that it helps to visualise. If you want to understand and remember a factual text better, then try this: Pause your reading. Write down or draw a symbol, for some key concept.

Then draw lines and arrows to the other terms you are reading about. Sort the information, give it structure, that you can see as an image. Or do this: Visualise a group of people, doing and saying things, that symbolise the facts you need to learn. Paint an entire scene for your inner eye. A clear picture is easier to remember than a list of facts.

For most people, visualisation soon becomes a natural part of the reading experience. But for some it doesn’t work at all. Some brains are simply made in another way, and it doesn’t matter how much effort they exert to visualise — they simply do not think in images. But it’s completely possible to still enjoy reading. You just have to work more on the other reading strategies instead.

For those who can visualise: grab the nearest book, and start creating some inner images!