Word Illusion

I thought I'd post this as another 'illusion' following the spinning girl 3D illusion we posted yesterday.  But this one being more reading based to fit with our regular Friday theme!

You've probably seen this text, or something similar - showing how we can still read words even if the letters are jumbled a little.  The so called 'research at Cambridge University' may or may not have actually happened, but it is still an interesting concept. You can't simply keep the first and last letter the same and mix all other letters, bcsueae lgnoer vlrobacuay bmeeocs dlfiufcit !! So how does it work?

There are different schools of thoughts on what the best way to learn to read is, whether through phonics - the sounds of the letters - or whole word recognition.  Whichever way we start to read - once we can do it - it, we then rely mostly on whole word recognition no longer needing to sound out the words, which is probably why we can read a text like the one above.  The letters have been mixed, but not so much that the words still retain a similar 'shape'.

'Phonics' verses 'Whole Word Recognition' as a method of learning to read deserves a whole other post or more - but for a Friday night - this is a fun one to ponder for now!