Bionic Reading does not work (2024)

BR confuses me because when I look at blocks of BR-enabled text, I feel less mental strain. Yet the studies and counter-studies (like this article) I've seen only report on comprehension scores. It definitely feels like BR is in scam territory, but I'm really curious about what it is about it that catches me.

Maybe it's just because bold text would have the same effect; or because I usually skim while reading anyways.