How we read words whose letters are jumbled up

  • Thread starter ceaweaw
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In summary: I would guess Phonetically would work.In summary, a team of researchers in the UK have found a way to decode letters on a page to read a word. This discovery could help psychologists unlock the subtle thinking mechanisms involved in reading, and could be helpful for people who find it difficult to read, such as people with dyslexia.
  • #1
ceaweaw
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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130315074613.htm

Researchers in the UK have taken an important step towards understanding how the human brain 'decodes' letters on a page to read a word. The work, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), will help psychologists unravel the subtle thinking mechanisms involved in reading, and could provide solutions for helping people who find it difficult to read, for example in conditions such as dyslexia.

I think a similar finding was done by some research team in an East Coast university, right ?
 
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  • #2
I don't remember where, but paragraphs exhibiting this phenomenon have been posted on PF before. In addition to jumbling the letters, there were also replacements of digits for letters, like 4 for a and 3 for e as in leet. Even so, the paragraphs were easily readable.
 
  • #4
I remember that from this paragraph people used to post where the letters of the words were jumbled except the first and last letters, and you could read the whole thing. The claim was that you only needed the first and last letters to be the same and you could tell what the word was.
But they didn't mention that a lot of words are 3 letters, which don't change at all, and words with 4 letters were changed very little, which made the paragraph intelligible mainly because you knew the context of the longer words.
 
  • #5
phinds said:
What is your question? Do you find it untrue? surprizing? needing clarifiaction? what?
THe UK team did contribute a lot to the research. I was a little surprised when the same idea was posted on sciencedaily.
 
  • #6
The article is misleading. You only see the phenomenon for sentences with simple structure and using very common and unambiguous words. It doesn't work in general.
 
  • #7
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.
Can you read this?
 
  • #8
Wikipedia says it's a myth.
 
  • #9
SnapDragon said:
Wikipedia says it's a myth.

Maybe it's scale-dependent. I thought most of Wikipedia had been written using the same method, but at the sentence and paragraph level :devil:
 
  • #10
  • #11
Jimmy Snyder said:
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.
Can you read this?

I was so amazed when I could read this without even thinking about it! Tihs is just isn4ne! I am osberving this feonmenon for the fisrt time.
Th3 fin4L t35t w0u|_D pr0bably |3y b0t|-| c@hngi|\|g 7h3 0rd3r 4Nd r43pla$ing s0m3 le77erz wih7 n0mbre$ @|\|d wirrt7nk inorc3t w0r|)z .
 
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  • #12
PuckNorris said:
Th3 fin4L t35t w0u|_D pr0bably |3y b0t|-| c@hngi|\|g 7h3 0rd3r 4Nd r43pla$ing s0m3 le77erz wih7 n0mbre$ @|\|d wirrt7nk inorc3t w0r|)z .

The final test would probably be both changing the order and replacing some letters with numbers and writing incorrect words.
 
  • #13
SnapDragon said:
Wikipedia says it's a myth.
If that's true the post before you would show Wikipedia to be unreliable on this subject.
 
  • #14
I am unsure how this is not the exact same as simple recognition/patterns/ect, which of course are not myths.

How long has the "license plate" game been around for?

/kənˈspikyo͞oəs/ that is the pronunciation of conspicuous which of course is not

/ken'spish'uass/ and to me anyways is completely unrecognizable as the word Conspicuous.

I'd guess a paragraph spelled Phonetically would also get the message across...as would diagrams.

I sometimes typed up stuff for a sales rep of ours, he hand writes stuff and often is about farming & includes jargon. His hand writting is messy and sometimes I can't make out the words...or even guess what they maybe...I'm not not a farmer and the context eludes me.

Duobl porlor robt mlkr =? btw a google search of Duobl porlor robt mlkr pretty much figured it out. And I'd doubt is was much different from the way we do.
 
  • #15
My spelling is so bad it's not funny but if you jumble the letters up I can find all the words. I don't know how but I do.
 
  • #16
Jimmy Snyder said:
I cnduo't bvleiee taht I culod aulaclty uesdtannrd waht I was rdnaieg. Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Aaznmig, huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghhuot slelinpg was ipmorantt! See if yuor fdreins can raed tihs too.
Can you read this?


Oh I get it but it's really a trick and not a phenomenum
 
  • #17
Try making sense of isolated words...like 'bucseae'. By itself it is meaningless,, so you are getting a lot of info from context and word position.

Also for a limited subset (as in roadsigns) one can often tell the word from the overall shape of the word as a whole.
 

1. How does our brain process jumbled words?

Our brain has a unique ability to recognize patterns and make sense of them. When we see a jumbled word, our brain automatically rearranges the letters to form a familiar word or a word that makes sense in the given context.

2. Why are some jumbled words easier to read than others?

Some jumbled words may be easier to read because they contain a pattern or a combination of letters that our brain can quickly recognize. Additionally, words with more familiar or common letter combinations may be easier to read compared to words with rare or unusual combinations.

3. Can anyone learn to read jumbled words?

Yes, anyone can learn to read jumbled words with practice. Our brain's ability to recognize patterns can be strengthened through exercises and activities that involve jumbled words. With regular practice, our brain becomes more efficient at processing and deciphering jumbled words.

4. Is there a limit to how jumbled a word can be and still be readable?

There is no specific limit to how jumbled a word can be and still be readable. It depends on the individual's ability to recognize patterns and the familiarity of the letter combinations. Generally, longer words with a few jumbled letters may be easier to read compared to shorter words with many jumbled letters.

5. Can reading jumbled words improve our overall reading skills?

Yes, reading jumbled words can improve our overall reading skills. It enhances our visual processing abilities, strengthens our cognitive skills, and improves our vocabulary. Regular practice with jumbled words can also improve our reading speed and comprehension.

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