posted on Jan, 4 2009 @ 06:46 PM
Not quite. You need more than just the first and last letter in place, just not in a linear fashion that people typically associate with it. Your
brain does read each letter individually and their count, and if those letters aren't present it becomes much tougher to decipher the message - which
is why tihs is sltil caerlly libegll, bqt tpzs is hvbiwr to rnud, awerd tpdxts iicxs sparlby gbweh. There's actually several different processes of
word identification at work here.
Our brains aren't very finely tuned. They're more like a patchwork hobble-together of different areas, evolved for different purposes, working in
parallel to each other. The ability to read is not an evolved or god given trait. It's a byproduct of other processes which we have shaped into the
ability to read - not an inherent talent that needs to be "unlocked" or "discovered". It really only appears as a single seamless process to us
while in the act of reading - a sort of illusion of consciousness.
[edit on 4-1-2009 by Lasheic]