There are numerous passages written in a combination of letters and numbers that has been doing the rounds on social media for years and purports that only certain “strong minds” can read i- But that’s not true — everybody can read the message with ease, as interpreting passages like this doesn’t activate the section of the brain instead, our brain knows to treat them like letters based on their similar appearance.
“While reading, you don’t pay attention to the difference between a number and a letter because you only expect letters,” Duñabeitia said.
“As people read the message, they’re able to decode the oddly shaped “letters” in a matter of milliseconds because the human brain essentially treats the digits like letters written by someone with bad handwriting or in an unusual typeface. You are in this mode of tolerance that allows for small distortions in the identity of the letters.” Duñabeitia said.
By: Archa Dave
