Psychology says people who read silently instead of out loud may store details differently in their brains

Remembering something you have just read can sometimes be harder than it seems, especially when you are going through a long article, study material or a list of information. One simple habit may make some information easier to remember, though. Research in psychology suggests that reading information aloud can give it an extra memory boost compared with reading the same thing silently.

The idea is linked to what researchers call the “production effect”, which describes the finding that information people actively produce, such as by saying it aloud, can be remembered better than information they only read silently.

Saying and hearing the words can make a difference

Research from the University of Waterloo looked at how different ways of encountering written information affect memory. The study compared four methods, including reading silently, hearing another person read, listening to a recording of oneself reading and reading aloud in real time.


The results from 95 participants showed that reading the information aloud to themselves produced the strongest memory performance.

Researchers suggested that the benefit comes partly from the fact that speaking involves an additional action, while also allowing people to hear their own voice. That makes the experience different from simply looking at words on a page.

“This study confirms that learning and memory benefit from active involvement,” said Colin M. MacLeod, a professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Waterloo, who co-authored the study with the lead author, post-doctoral fellow Noah Forrin. “When we add an active measure or a production element to a word, that word becomes more distinct in long-term memory, and hence more memorable.”

So, reading aloud does not necessarily make the information easier to understand, but it can make some of it easier to remember later.

The effect is not limited to individual words

A 2023 study published in Memory & Cognition looked at whether the production effect also applies when people have to read and remember longer passages rather than individual words.

Researchers Brady R. T. Roberts, Zoey S. Hu, Eloise Curtis, Glen E. Bodner, David McLean and Colin M. MacLeod conducted four experiments in which participants read passages either aloud or silently before answering multiple-choice questions.

The researchers found a clear advantage for reading aloud when the questions tested memory. The same benefit did not consistently appear when the questions focused more on comprehension.

The researchers said the findings fit the idea that information read aloud becomes more distinctive during learning and later stands apart from information that was read silently. In simple terms, the act of producing the words may give them another feature for the brain to use when trying to retrieve them later.

Reading aloud may also keep the mind from wandering

There is another possible reason this habit could help. Research by Trish L. Varao Sousa, Jonathan S. A. Carriere and Daniel Smilek examined how different reading methods affected mind wandering.

Participants either read passages aloud, listened to passages being read or read them silently. Reading aloud was linked to the least amount of mind wandering, while listening produced the most. The listening condition also showed poorer memory and lower interest in the material.

That does not mean silent reading is ineffective. Rather, the findings suggest that actively producing the information can make the reading experience more engaging and may reduce the chances of attention drifting away.

What the research really suggests

Another 2023 meta-analysis by Jonathan M. Fawcett and colleagues also found evidence that production can improve recognition memory, although its effects on recall are more complicated. The researchers found that producing information can make it more distinctive and can also reduce certain incorrect responses.

Taken together, the research points to a fairly simple idea: if something is important enough to remember, saying it aloud may give your brain another way to hold on to it.