通过潜意识阅读，用特殊的“摄像焦点”的用眼方法，把一页页的书籍直接输入潜意识，通过潜意识的处理后，再通过活化提取出来。据说这是一种非常高效的阅读方法，对于一般人来讲，似乎入门很容易。所以，在国内一经翻译出版，就引来无数的追随者。但是，真正达到作者在著作中所说的那种效果的，也不是简简单单就可以实现的。根据我们对于国内论坛的追踪，发现真正影像阅读法有所成效的只有几个人，而绝大多数的练习者似乎并没有得到实质性的进展。为此，我们来看“维基百科（wikipedia） ”中的描述：

In January 2000 Danielle S. McNamara submitted a preliminary report to the NASA Ames Research Center on photoreading. McNamara enrolled in a PhotoReading workshop under the tutelage of a photoreading expert trained by Paul Scheele. In three years this expert had trained over 150 individuals in PhotoReading. The trainee spent two months learning the PhotoReading technique. The two participants were “(a) the PhotoReading trainee who participated in a two-day photoreading workshop, and (b) the expert who provided the PhotoReading workshop.” (McNamara 4).

（2000年1月达尼埃尔麦克纳马拉向美国航天局艾姆斯研究中心提交了一份关于photoreading的初步报告。麦克纳马拉曾就读于一个photoreading 培训班，由保罗.席利亲自培训出来的专家监护指导。这个专家在过去的三年中已经培养了近150个人学习photoreading，培训期为两个月，用来学习photoreading的技术。两名参与者，一名是参加了一个两天photoreading的学员（a），一个是提供培训的专家（b）。

McNamara first conducted five baseline tests to measure ordinary reading speeds and comprehension. Then, she administered five similar tests after using the PhotoReading technique. These tests included the Nelson Reading Comprehension Test and the Verbal Reasoning section of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). The study investigated fact-based tests since “PhotoReading has been claimed to be particularly effective for this type of text” (McNamara 5). Subject matter included physiology, perception, and biology. A single idea or sentence within each text formed the basis for each question. According to McNamara “The information in the text that is targeted by the question generally requires little prior knowledge and little active processing of the text to understand” (McNamara 6). In other words, these were relatively straightforward, factual questions.

麦克纳马拉首先进行了5次基准测试，以衡量一般阅读速度和理解能力。 然后，在应用photoreading技巧以后，她又进行了5个相类似的测试。 这些测试包括尼尔森阅读理解测试和医学院入学测试（MCAT）的文字推理测试，这项研究调查的事实依据是因为“PhotoReading曾经一直声称对于这种类型的文本特别有效”（McNamara 5）。 题材包括生理，认知和生物学。每个问题的（答案的）基础都来源于每个文本中的单一的概念和句子。据麦克纳马拉说： “在文本中每个问题所针对的信息一般很少要求先前具有相关的知识，也并不要求需要特殊的思维进行处理才能够理解”（McNamara 6）。 换言之，这些都是相对简单的，基于事实的问题

The results of the study generally indicate that PhotoReading and normal reading require a similar amount of time to complete. In one test, the expert answered 37 of 38 questions correctly after normal reading, and took 19.43 minutes to complete the task. Then the expert took a similar test after PhotoReading the passage, and answered 38 out of 38 questions correctly in a time of 18.13 minutes. McNamara took the same test and scored a 92% both times; photoreading took 21.30 minutes whereas regular reading took 15.80 minutes. These results do not support Scheele’s 25,000 words per minute claims.

研究结果表明，用photoreading和普通的阅读方法都需要几乎相同的时间来完成测试。 在一次试验中，专家在普通阅读后，正确回答了38个问题中的37个，完成任务用时19.43分钟。 然后，专家采用photoreading阅读了这个章节，并进行了类似的测试，在18.13分钟内正确回答了38个问题。 麦克纳马拉采取了同样的测试，记录了92%的对比数据; photoreading用了21.30分钟，而普通阅读用了15.80分钟。 这些结果不支持席利每分钟25000字的声明。

In a text about perception, the expert read normally and finished the text in 8.82 minutes and answered three questions of eight correctly. Then, the expert “photoread” the text in 0.87 minutes and proceeded to read the text for another 8.12 minutes before finishing. After photoreading, the expert scored one out of eight questions correctly. These results do not support Scheele’s assertions that Photoreading helps one study faster and with greater comprehension than with ordinary reading techniques.

在有关知觉的文本中，通常专家阅读和成品8.82分钟文本，并回答了三个问题8正确。专家用普通阅读法用时8.82分钟阅读完文本，并正确回答了8个问题中的三个。然后，专家用0.87分钟“影像阅读”了文本，并在结束之前用另外的8.12分钟进一步阅读了文章。 经过photoreading，专家正确回答了8个问题中的一个。 这些结果不支持希尔的说法是Photoreading一项研究有助于更快更比普通阅读技巧的理解。这些结果并不支持席利关于photoreading能够阅读的更快而且同时具有比普通阅读更高理解率的说法。

In conclusion, McNamara noted that “In terms of words per minute (wpm) spent reading, there was no difference between normal reading (M = 114 wpm) and PhotoReading (M=112 wpm)” (10). In an attempt to explain the appeal of PhotoReading for some individuals, McNamara stated “One aspect of the PhotoReading technique is that it leaves the reader with a false sense of confidence.”

总之，麦克纳马拉指出，“在每分钟阅读字数（wpm）这个问题上，普通阅读（M = 114 wpm）和PhotoReading（M=112 wpm） 之间并没有显著的差异。”（10）。 在试图解释PhotoReading某些个别人具有的效果和吸引力，麦克纳马拉说：“PhotoReading技术的一个方面是，它给了读者一个虚假的自信“。（以上翻译仅供参考，英文好的朋友尽可能看原文）。

以上是国外人自己针对影像阅读法的调查研究，虽然仅凭这一个研究数据也许并不能说明什么，但是它总比我们国内某些人的“我用影像阅读取得了什么什么效果”，或者“影像阅读什么用也没有”等等的泛泛的说法要有说服力。至于影像阅读法的效果究竟怎么样，建议读者朋友多看一些国外的资料，以增加分辨能力。