The idea that babies have capabilities beyond our recognition is one that has been expressed in many different forms across the years, such as in children’s television shows (e.g., Nickelodeon’s Rugrats and a few ill-fated movies (Baby’s Day Out, Baby Geniuses, Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2). A common theme in these shows and movies is that […]
Language Processes
Warning: Some of the words in this post may be considered offensive. One beauty of the English language is the seemingly infinite possibilities when it comes to making new words. People seem to get especially creative when they’re coming up with new phrases for insults and curse words—the type of language that tends to be […]
As we go about our daily lives, we are constantly exposed to new information―news reports from a foreign country, politicians’ statements about domestic policy, a friend’s description of a new restaurant, and celebrity gossip. Some of that information is true and some is false. How do we remember which statements are true and which are […]
I find that the older I get, the more I “accidentally a word.” And that’s before we get to autocorrect. Sometimes, word processor errors coupled with collaborative editing on a document mean that someone types the same word in their highlighted text as occurs in the next section of the text. Or, occasionally, people will […]
It is truly remarkable what the mind can achieve through the process of reading. Take for example the message below. Were you able to interpret what this message says? Our ability to ‘read’ this combination of numbers and letters highlights the fact that reading (among other things) has become a deeply embedded feature of our […]
Sarcasm, a type of irony, is inescapably embedded in the internet today, with ironic language of some kind being ubiquitous on Facebook, Twitter, in blogs, in news articles, and more. Computers, unlike people, often fail to detect sarcasm, which has the notable quality of often meaning nearly the opposite of what was written. For example, […]
How many U.S. presidents can you name? (Apologies to our international audience.) Regardless of how many you can recall, I would bet that among the ones you did remember are Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Trump, Obama, and Bush. I would also bet that among the ones you did not remember are McKinley, Hoover, and Cleveland. Don’t […]
Asking your waiter what beers are on tap should come with a trigger warning, because the simple question may trigger a cognitive challenge. From Heineken to Becks and some other local boutique IPAs whose names you cannot even pronounce, the list can be so extensive that you are put into frantic rehearsal mode just to […]
The spelling rules of English are by far the most challenging aspect of learning to read, of reading, and of writing. Anyone who has seen a child’s spontaneous writing has seen all kinds of creative misspellings. Adults, of course, are also not immune to spelling errors. Spelling is so strange in the English language that […]
What’s the first thing that comes to mind in response to “Italian”? Lots of things probably, from Lamborghini to cannelloni and Bertolucci. Perhaps you also thought of how Italians talk. Even if we don’t speak Italian, we probably know that Italians do a lot of talking with their hands: in case you have any doubt, […]