New Books in Psychology Yellowlees Douglas, "Writing for the Reader's Brain: A Science-Based Guide" (Cambridge UP, 2024)
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Apr 16, 2025 
Yellowlees Douglas, founder of ReadersBrain Academy and seasoned writing instructor, delves into the science of writing and readability. He discusses the five 'Cs' of writing—clarity, continuity, coherence, concision, and cadence—and their role in engaging readers. The conversation explores the cognitive processes influencing comprehension, the debate on active versus passive voice, and the significance of sentence structure. Douglas emphasizes practical strategies for clear communication, highlighting that effective writing can be learned and refined.
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Writing Quality Is Science-Based
- Writing quality isn't about natural talent but understanding rules and cognitive science.
- Without objective measures, teaching effective writing remains frustrating and inconsistent.
Readability Depends on Structure
- Readability formulas based on syllable count and sentence length fail to capture true comprehension difficulty.
- Sentence structure and working memory limits heavily influence how easily readers process text.
Reading Is Predictive Processing
- Reading involves several phases: word recognition, grammar parsing, then meaning and inference building.
- English readers predict text ahead and dislike backtracking, affecting how sentences should be composed.