Speaking whilst breathing-in (not restricted to ventriloquists)

Humans mostly tend to ‘breathe out’ whilst speaking (or making other vocalisations). Mostly but not exclusively. So-called Ingressive Speech is quite prevalent worldwide – and not just amongst ventriloquists. Take for example, a Scottish male saying “Aye aye I ken” (“Yes, yes I know”). [.wav audio file here] http://www.ida.liu.se/~robek28/audio/ingressive-Eklund_JIPA_2008_Fig_7b_ingr-aye_egr-aye-i-ken_male.wav Robert Eklund, who is Associate Professor […]

This is your brain on Scrabble™ : an fMRI study

It almost goes without saying that Improbable endeavours to keep our readers up-to-date with current fMRI research projects. In respect of which, may we recommend : ‘This is your brain on Scrabble: Neural correlates of visual word recognition in competitive Scrabble players as measured during task and resting-state’ published in the journal Cortex, Volume 75, […]

Orthographic effects on rhyme monitoring

Rhyme monitoring offers countless opportunities for a watchful person. A few of those opportunities were seized, resulting in this study: “Orthographic effects on rhyme monitoring,” Mark S. Seidenberg [pictured here] and Michael K. Tanenhaus, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, vol. 5, no. 6, 1979, pp. 546-54. Here’s detail from the study:  

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