Photo by V. Miller
Feb. 20, 2008
Word Jumble
Studying the Effects of Contextual Information on the Analysis of Words
Shubha Raghvendra, 13, Cupertino, Calif.
Finalist, Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, 2007
Project background: How does the brain process misspelled or scrambled words? Shubha learned that people solve such puzzles by focusing on clues at four levels—discourse (context), syntax (word order), semantics, and phonology (sound). Shubha created a test of scrambled words in which some of these clues were available and others not. She hypothesized that proper context would provide the most helpful clue for unscrambling words.
Tactics and results: Shubha designed nine trials. In each trial, the participants had to unscramble five words. Two trials assessed the role of phonology. They required participants to unscramble words that had the first sound intact or the first and last sounds intact. The context trials used scrambled words in a paragraph or sentence. The syntax trials had scrambled words as part of a nonsensical sentence or paragraph. The semantics trials featured scrambled words with the first letter intact or first and last letters intact. The control trial had only scrambled words.
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| Photo by V. Miller |
Shubha did not confirm her hypothesis. The participants scored best with phonological clues, that is, unscrambling words with sounds intact. Words scrambled in context ranked a close second.
To get science project ideas and expert advice from Science Buddies, go to www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/areas_of_science.shmtl.
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