What is the incredible power of the human mind?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores the capabilities of the human mind in reading jumbled words, referencing a study that suggests the order of letters within a word can be mixed as long as the first and last letters remain in place. Participants share their experiences and thoughts on how this phenomenon works, particularly in relation to vocabulary and spelling abilities.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Debate/contested, Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express fascination with the idea that the human mind can read jumbled words if the first and last letters are correct, citing a Cambridge University study.
  • Others argue that knowing the correct letters is still necessary, and that the ability to read jumbled words may depend on individual vocabulary and spelling skills.
  • A participant questions how this reading ability might be affected in lists of unrelated words without contextual clues.
  • Some participants share personal experiences with jumbled words and discuss the limits of this ability, suggesting that longer words may pose more challenges.
  • There are mentions of specific examples of jumbled words and the varying degrees of difficulty in recognizing them.
  • Some participants note that the phenomenon may not apply uniformly, particularly for individuals with limited vocabulary or dyslexia.
  • There is a playful exchange about the nature of jumbled words and the challenges they present, including discussions about specific examples and their interpretations.
  • Concerns are raised about the effectiveness of this reading ability when words become too long or complex.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus; multiple competing views remain regarding the extent to which the human mind can process jumbled words and the factors that influence this ability.

Contextual Notes

Some participants highlight limitations in understanding jumbled words based on vocabulary knowledge, spelling ability, and the context in which words are presented. There is also mention of unresolved questions regarding the effectiveness of this reading ability with longer or more complex words.

ElectroPhysics
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I found it interesting to read, and to find out the
capabilities of a human mind.

Hi
I cdnuolt blveiee taht yuo cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was
rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in
the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter
by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
Rdegras,
 
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you still have to know which letters are needed in the word, it's just the order (except first and last) that can be mixed.

petrty asewmo huh?
 
ElectroPhysics said:
Hi
I cdnuolt blveiee taht yuo cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was
rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in
the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter
by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
Rdegras,

Actually I thought you either ment by the title:
Psaele read
...read being past tense, and Psaele a Greek philosopher or another member on PF.
OR
Psaele ræd
raed being a unicode letter that you couldn't find. "æ" not "ae"

:biggrin:
 
You definitely belong on this board.
 
:smile: :smile: :smile: Yep, well I've been here a little bit
 
I think jumble writers have known this for decades and just never wanted to tell anyone :devil:
 
ElectroPhysics said:
I found it interesting to read, and to find out the
capabilities of a human mind.

Hi
I cdnuolt blveiee taht yuo cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was
rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a
wrod
are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in
the
rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey
lteter
by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
Rdegras,

Do you think this works with people who have a more limited spelling/vocabulary ability? If you don't know the word or how to spell well, I would think it might be harder to quickly unjumble the letters in your mind. Also, how would this work in a list of unrelated words? I.e., if there were no hints from sentence structure to guess at the word.
 
I posted this same letter here a while ago and learned that someone else had posted it before me.
 
ElectroPhysics said:
I found it interesting to read, and to find out the
capabilities of a human mind.

Hi
... I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt!
Rdegras,
I have no clue what Rdegras is supposed to be.
 
  • #10
Rdegras, = Regards,

And it's my understanding you don't 'unjumble' words, you understand them as a whole already so it has no effect on people with limited vocabulary - now dislexia, that's an interesting one.
 
  • #11
yeah, I figured it out after I wrote my post. I don't use regards when I end a letter so I guess I wasn't expecting to see it. That means something to me about context and jumbled words.
 
  • #12
Maybe your brain was deciding whether it was "regards" or "redrags" :bugeye:
 
  • #13
Hmm at first, like someone already said, I thought you were asking someone named "Psaele" to read this post. I just now noticed, after reading the whole thread, that you spelled the entire topic wrong (mroe awarkd tahn worng I gseus)
 
  • #14
Aaaabdeehiiiiilmnnnrsssstttm
Antidisestablishmentarianism[/color]

If you got that without thinking about it, I'll consider taking the above passage for mis-spelled truth, otherwise I'm going to have to insist there is a minimum amount of coherency that must remain for a word to be made sense of.
 
  • #15
It works but not perfectly, some words, that i misinterpreted:

petrty = pertty (purdy), just a slang misspelling of pretty.

Rdegras = redegrass (hell if i know what that is supposed to be, but that's what i read it as)


as for the random word list try it out:

cotansnintople
ceehse
hngury
terid
popele
chtaloic
bbile
i lvoe furit ckae
plasee gvie me smeohtnig
emtoonial
antiesdisblathisnemnairatism (take that cambridge!)
 
  • #16
aequeosalinocalcalinoceraceoaluminosocupreovitriolic

okay, can anyone figure this one out? (that space isn't supposed to be there but won't go away)
 
  • #17
Out of context, I definitely needed to actually unscramble letters in my mind.

When tribdog asked about rdegras, I had no idea until I looked at the letter again.

And in the above list, most are short enough words, and I've done enough newspaper jumble puzzles to get them quickly, but I'm still working on this one, "chtaloic."
 
  • #18
Moonbear said:
"chtaloic."

It's catholic <--highlight
 
  • #19
Oh. :blushing: That explains why it was such an unfamiliar word for me. :devil: :biggrin:
 
  • #20
Moonbear said:
Oh. :blushing: That explains why it was such an unfamiliar word for me. :devil: :biggrin:


:smile: :smile: :smile:

But did you get the last one?
 
  • #21
franznietzsche said:
:smile: :smile: :smile:

But did you get the last one?

Yeah, but how many words could be that long? And it's not totally scrambled, but only scrambled in clusters.

In case anyone doesn't know, it's in white text, highlight to see it:
antidisestablishmentarianism[/color] I sure hope I spelled that right.

But, according to the first article, you can put the letters in any order, as long as you keep the first and last in the right place. So, would you get it if the word was displayed this way: AAAABDEEHIIIIILMNNNRSSSSTTTM?

I think it relies on people not completely scrambling the letters entirely randomly, but in somewhat less random, more predictable clusters.
 
  • #22
Moonbear said:
Yeah, but how many words could be that long? And it's not totally scrambled, but only scrambled in clusters.

In case anyone doesn't know, it's in white text, highlight to see it:
antidisestablishmentarianism[/color] I sure hope I spelled that right.

But, according to the first article, you can put the letters in any order, as long as you keep the first and last in the right place. So, would you get it if the word was displayed this way: AAAABDEEHIIIIILMNNNRSSSSTTTM?

I think it relies on people not completely scrambling the letters entirely randomly, but in somewhat less random, more predictable clusters.

like: terid

What did you read it as? tired, or tried?

Obviously problems arise with words that are anagrams of other words.
 
  • #23
I think that once the word becomes large enough that you can't read it all at once the trick fails. I'd say that's around 8 characters at the most - for the normal person.
 
  • #24
franznietzsche said:
like: terid

What did you read it as? tired, or tried?

Obviously problems arise with words that are anagrams of other words.

Heh, I read it as tetrid, then when I re-read it before I was going to post, I read tetrid again, and was like: Ohh, someone else noticed it too. And the

"ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM"
 
  • #25
And I found out tetrid, previously known as not a real word to me is actually a drug you give to pets, fish and birds I think.
 
  • #26
Smurf said:
I think that once the word becomes large enough that you can't read it all at once the trick fails. I'd say that's around 8 characters at the most - for the normal person.

jenapase or inurdoepoan?
 
  • #27
Japanese I got right away... and the second one is over 8 letters long lol, I give up, what is it?
 
  • #28
Indoeuropean? I have never heard of that, but it looks to make the most sense
 
  • #29
that's the first thing that came to mine, but it's got one too many e's, or did franz just forget an e?
 
  • #30
oops forgot an e. And yeah Indo-european was it, just decided to leave out the hyphen for sake of difficulty.


qiruamge or hetawpcelkatrd ?
 

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