The above passage, written in a combination of letters and numbers purports that only certain strong minds can read it, reports an article on Yahoo!
But that is not exactly true as just about everybody can read the message with ease. But according to one scientist, our ability to read such messages reveals something pretty incredible about the brain.
Interpreting passages like this hardly activates the section of the brain associated with numbers, said Jon Andoni Duñabeitia, part of a team of Spanish cognitive scientists who wrote five papers on the subject. Instead, our brain knows to treat them like letters based on their similar appearance.
While reading, you do not pay attention to the difference between a number and a letter because you only expect letters.
As people read the message, they are 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. Because for your brain, it is not a number in a word, it is a wrongly written or strangely written letter.
Although, there may be some truth to the idea that some people are more adept at reading this type of passage or leet speak than others, he said.
Young people, who have grown up using computers with endless typographical choices may find it second nature. On the other hand, an older person, likely raised using standardized handwriting could find decoding these messages a little tougher.
But as long as we are proficient readers, we will not have a problem, he finished.
