Reply from Sam Glucksberg to Jose Guijarro:
>Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 16:44:33 -0500 (EST)
>Subject: Re: Non-member submission from [jose luis guijarro
<guijarro@wanadoo.es>]
>
>Answer comes from the psychology of reading/perception literature.
>function words such as of are read very quickly and people often don't
>detect the f in of. Another influence is phonology. The F in of is
>prounounced as if it were a v. this too contributes to the error.
>
>> >Reply-To: guijarro <guijarro@wanadoo.es>
>> >From: jose luis guijarro <guijarro@wanadoo.es>
>> >To: relevance <relevance@linguistics.ucl.ac.uk>,
>> > Roberto Casati <casati@idf.ext.jussieu.fr>
>> >Subject: A strange problem
>> >Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 15:48:50 +0100
>>
>> >
>> >Hola!
>> >
>> >Some people, who consider me a professional "cognitive pragmatist" (I won=
>> >der
>> >why!) have asked me an explanation of the following problem which I am
>> >unable to provide. I submit it to you people in case you do have one. If =
>> >you
>> >really want to experience the problem, don't cheat and proceed from the
>> >beginning to the end.
>> >
>> >
>> >Please count the number of "F" in the following paragraph:
>> >
>> >
>> >FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH =
>> >THE
>> >EXPERIENCE OF YEARS
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >How many "F" are there?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Have you counted three?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >There are six!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Count them again, please.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Do you still have three only?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >What about the "F" at the end of the three OF? Does our mind doesn't proc=
>> >ess
>> >them at all, or are they really non relevant?
>> >
>> >
>> >WHAT IS THE REASON OF IT?
>> >
>> >Thanks for explaining!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Jos=E9 Luis Guijarro
>> >Facultad de Filosof=EDa y Letras
>> >Universidad de C=E1diz
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------
>> Robyn Carston
>> Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, UCL
>> Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
>> Tel: + 44 020 7679 3174
>> Fax: + 44 020 7383 4108
>> URL http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/robyn/home.htm
>> -------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
-------------------------------------------------
Robyn Carston
Department of Phonetics & Linguistics, UCL
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Tel: + 44 020 7679 3174
Fax: + 44 020 7383 4108
URL http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/robyn/home.htm
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