jackofallgeeks: (Goofy)
John Noble ([personal profile] jackofallgeeks) wrote2003-09-16 02:24 pm

I tihnk it's petrty colse

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[identity profile] naughtjennifer.livejournal.com 2003-09-17 09:30 am (UTC)(link)
There is a range in which the human mind can adapt and decrypt the gidderish. One could say that it works on the same basis as learning a new language(when you associate the other language with words, not concepts). Your mind sees one thing, searches through a database of known words with similar characteristics, and replaces it with the one which most fits. With a young child however, this database method hasn't been developed yet. They take their assumption based on an insufficent test group(the assumption: that the mind reads words, not letters; the test group: those with developed language skills) and make a blanket statement using said assumption. When you read code, do you see the components of the lines of code, or do you see the operation that the lines would perform? Being a programmer, you'd most likely say the latter. One unfamiliar or only mildly familiar with the code, however, would see the pieces, not the whole. As such, the programmer may notice a mistake, but still be able to identify the operation. The non-programmer will notice the mistake, and thus be inable to tell what the operation is.

I hope that analogy makes sense . . .