Forces the eye to take in numbers at the edges of the grid without moving the gaze from the centre. Trains a wider visual span.
A wider visual span means fewer eye fixations per line. This is one of the underlying mechanics of speed reading, though gains in actual reading speed depend on practice with text itself.
Sustained search under time pressure builds the kind of narrow, deliberate focus useful for any task that demands concentration.
You start to remember where numbers are after one pass over the grid, training short-term spatial recall.
Fix your gaze on the centre cell (highlighted on odd grids). Do not move your eyes off it for the entire run. If you catch yourself scanning, stop and reset. Cheating defeats the training effect.
Find each number using the awareness around your central focus point. It will feel slow and uncomfortable at first. That discomfort is the training.
Begin at 3 x 3 or 4 x 4. Move up to 5 x 5 once you can hold central fixation comfortably. Most adults plateau around 5 x 5; 7 x 7 is genuinely demanding.
Five to ten minutes a day will outperform a single half-hour session. The skill consolidates between sessions, not within them.
Did you keep your eyes strictly on the centre square for the entire run, or did you drift to search manually?
A comprehensive summary of your peripheral vision progression over time.