A nonvolatile semiconductor memory device according to the present invention comprises a memory cell selecting circuit for selecting the memory cell from the memory cell array in units of row, column or memory cell; a read voltage application circuit for applying a read voltage to the variable resistor element of the selected memory cells selected by the memory cell selecting circuit; and a read circuit for detecting the amount of the read current flowing in accordance with the resistance value of the variable resistor element with respect to the memory cell to be read of the selected memory cells and reading the information stored in the memory cell to be read; and the read voltage application circuit applies a dummy read voltage having reversed polarity from the read voltage to the variable resistor element of the selected memory cell.