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Benedict Arnold

Can You Read This? What Is the Name For It?

This is actually a reprise of a marvelous question from the old days of Ask.com...it was 2011...

It has to do with brain research...that no matter how scrambled the words, our splendid brains seem to work it out...and so your mission should you choose,
(1) can you read this, and
(2) do you know the name for this kind of scrambling?

"I cdn'uolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg: the phaonmneel pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rseearch taem at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht 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. "

Posted - February 18, 2017
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Responses


  • Yes I can read it, but I don't know the name of it. I'm intrigued now. How does dyslexia fit into this.  This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 19, 2017 9:55 AM MST
      February 18, 2017 10:51 PM MST
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  • Hi Lucia, I actually don't think it's dyslexia...it's more that the brain scientists were surprised at how flexible our brains are, just sailing through this kind of word garbling.

    Here is another example I saved from 2011, quite fascinating I thought because you can even substitute numbers and the brain can STILL get it...

    "4 C3R7A1N D4Y 0N3 5UMM3R, 1 W45 0N 7H3 B34CH"

    * * *
    Late edit: Actually, maybe it does have something to do with dyslexia...I never thought of that! 
    This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 19, 2017 9:55 AM MST
      February 18, 2017 11:02 PM MST
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  • Hello, I understand the premise but the dyslexic brain wouldn't read it in the same way. I think dyslexia is more interesting than supposed. 
    I remember a long and incinclusive conversation I had with a friend a long time ago and we postulated that dyslexia couldn't exist within naturalised Chinese speakers and readers, for example. What do you think.
      February 18, 2017 11:09 PM MST
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  • Hi Lucia,
    Well I went online, and picked out the Chinese character that means "gold." And indeed, how would you write this if you were dyslexic? Maybe you and your friend were thinking that learning to write in Chinese would just train the brain in a different way than our Western alphabet?
    I don't know, but it is an interesting topic...I recently learned from a friend with Asperger's that those folks are often dyslexic, also...
      February 19, 2017 12:51 AM MST
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  • 7683
    I can read it but not effortlessly;))
      February 18, 2017 11:00 PM MST
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  • Does not totally flow, I agree!
    Hi Veena.K
      February 18, 2017 11:05 PM MST
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  • 7683
    Hi VirginiaL...
    yes, I did have to put some effort;))
      February 18, 2017 11:14 PM MST
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  • Veena.K, Dozy found it! 
    He found it on Wikipedia, and I have in my notes from 2011 that this kind of scrambling is called TYPOGLYCEMIA...it's a combination of "typographical error" plus "hypoglycemia," a made-up word just for this purpose...
      February 19, 2017 12:32 AM MST
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  • Thank you, Virginial, for adding a word to my vocabulary.
      February 19, 2017 8:26 PM MST
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  • According to Wikipedia (not a source I would recommend to anybody) it's called typoglycemia.

    The idea was first explored at Cambridge University (in the UK -- I think there's another Cambridge University in the States). Here's a link: http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/matt.davis/Cmabrigde/
      February 18, 2017 11:26 PM MST
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  • The gold star goes to your discovery of 'typoglycemia,' Dozy...

    Also I think you answered another (really important) quandary also...I made a note in my Ask file that wikip claims all this research did not happen at Cambridge, but maybe it did not happen at Cambridge USA, in favor of the one in the UK! This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at February 19, 2017 1:55 AM MST
      February 19, 2017 12:28 AM MST
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  • Possibly. I know that it started at Cambridge but don't know if it was continued elsewhere. Wikipedia is notoriously unreliable. It's the Internet version of "alternative facts".
      February 19, 2017 1:56 AM MST
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  • 10026
    Good Morning, evening, midday, what day is it where you are right now Didge?  Whatever 24 hour period you are traveling in at the moment, I hope it is serving you well.  And Good Job, too!  
    Your angelic side is shining brightly today.  Are you on your best behavior in front of Virginia?  
    I know I have a tendency to be a little more aware of my ps and qs when she is around.  :)

    That's a compliment Virginia.  It's because I care about you and want to impress you with ways I can help.  Thankfully, Didge is here and did so gallantly.  I'm not sure I would have been able to find it.  I'm glad he did.  :) :)


      February 19, 2017 10:09 AM MST
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  • I had to look back over my answer to see what I said and only then did I realise the final word of the link is misspelled. That's very clever.
      February 20, 2017 11:22 PM MST
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  • "That's pretty cool!"  Reminds me of something that I used to do when I was a kid.

    Put a pencil in each hand, put your hands together and write your name out from the middle.
    Your left hand writes your name backwards and your right hand writes it forward

                      yawmuhS nodroG  Gordon Shumway

           Hint: the harder you try, the less likely it will happen. 
      February 18, 2017 11:44 PM MST
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  • omg, ALf that is amazing!
    ima try that...

    I actually am noticing that as I get older, the writing does not flow from my fingers as easily anyway...or, well, maybe it is that I don't do as much writing, since the era of computers. Haven't noticed any extra finger stumbles on the keyboard of this laptop!
      February 19, 2017 12:25 AM MST
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  • If you have trouble doing it .... close your eyes and try it.
      February 19, 2017 12:31 AM MST
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  • Alf, I just tried it...and actually did not have any trouble doing it...although the left hand, which is my non-dominant one, was a little shakier...

    But here is a question; should the left-hand letters actually be written backwards? That is, should I be writing the lefthand "d" as a "b," for example?
    I put them all frontwards, and that is prolly what made it do-able, because I could just replicate both hands exactly, but heading in different directions...if you had to write the left hand letters backward, then idk...
      February 19, 2017 1:04 AM MST
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  • Yes, the left-hand is suppose to be write (long-hand) the letters backwards ... like it would appear in a mirror.

    Another thing I hadn't ever considered is, this might only work for a right-hander, being as a left-hander would be doing something with their dominant hand that they've never done before. :)
      February 19, 2017 2:19 AM MST
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  • Okay, ima try it again...good point about the dominant hand perhaps better at the mirror imaging...
      February 19, 2017 2:42 AM MST
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  • 10026
    O.K. Alf~ Now, I'm going to have to try this, too!  Just a sec.....

    That is cool!!  The human mind is an amazing beast! 
    I love that little trick. 
    :) :)
    I'm going to share it with Don. Thanks!!! This post was edited by Merlin at February 20, 2017 10:25 PM MST
      February 19, 2017 10:12 AM MST
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  • My pleasure.  Go and amaze your friends. :)
      February 20, 2017 11:01 PM MST
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  • Oh WW, how precious!
    Who (or what) is this little fellow? 
      February 19, 2017 12:53 AM MST
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  • 1953
    Hello Virginia, nice to see you again. :)
      February 19, 2017 5:02 AM MST
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