Check it out, and see if you can read it. Via Yglesias.
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no sweat. seriously only 55 out of 100 can read this? that percentage seems low.
Agreed. I think it’s a trick to make people who read blogs feel smarter.
Also–tagging this entry neuroscience? That’s a mighty low bar.
Well, okay. It’d be more deserving if I had actually explained it. But it’s a more extreme case of an earlier famous result involving transposing letters. And there are tons other experiments involving blindspots and your brain’s ability to make inferences without your noticing it.
I tend to agree, though, that the 55% thing seems like it must be a scam.
This made the rounds in like 2003(?), saying that 100% of people can read it, and that proves that we don’t need to spell, or something. I’m pretty sure the science behind it is spurious, but I can’t be bothered to look it up.
…and if I’d bothered to read the comments, I’d see I was Tpwmed (Towned? Tompwned? Maybe the problem is that I can’t spell internet jargon…)
More here and here, including links to some of the original research, and lists of how the claims have been blog-permuted.
I don’t think people who read blogs need any more reasons to feel smarter.