Which of these images has a correct “g” letter? Most people don’t know

Although “g” with looptail is a spelling used in various types of common letter, most people tested in the study could not identify what their right version is.

A 2018 study at Johns Hopkins University revealed that, despite reading it daily, most people have difficulty in recognizing One of the most common printed forms of the letter “g”.

The investigation, in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, focused on G “Looptail”, a version of the tiny letter present in widely used letter types, such as Times New Roman and Calibri. Although people often write the simplest, “open tail”, by hand, the looptail variant dominates the printed text in books, newspapers and screens.

To test the perception, the investigators first asked for 38 participants to list the letters they believed have two tiny shapes. Almost none mentioned the letter “G”. When requested, most could not accurately remember or reproduce the looptail form. Only two participants managed to write it correctly, reports the.

In a second experience, participants scanned the text in search of examples of G Looptail before trying to reproduce it from memory. Only one person got itwhile about half wrote the family handwritten form.

The final task involved the identification of G Looptail from a set of similar symbols. Of the 25 participants, only seven chose the correct version: number 3.

“They don’t know exactly what this letter is like, although they can read it,” said co-author Gali Ellenblum.

According to the main author Michael McCloskey, the problem can come the way letters are learned in childhood. “We believe we learned most of the forms of letters in part because we need to write them at school. G in the form of a loop is something that Never teach us to writeSo we may not learn so well their way, ”he explained.

The results suggest that frequent exposure alone does not guarantee detailed visual knowledge, raising questions about cognitive processes involved in reading. Researchers have also observed potential implications for children who learn mainly through screen. “They have a little more difficulty with this form of G because they were not forced to pay attention and write it?” Asked McCloskey.