Can you correctly identify the lowercase 'g'?
A survey conducted by researchers at the John Hopkins University threw out some surprising results: Most people can't correctly identify the lowercase 'g'.
The lower-case g actually comes in two typographic forms: The fish hook, a circle with a left facing curl beneath it - that we were taught in school; and the loop-tail with two closed, connected circles - that most people find hard to reproduce.
Go ahead and see if you can identify the correct g in this survey:
Here is how people on Twitter fared:
Were you able to correctly identify the g? While most people answered 1, the correct answer is actually option 3.
The Time magazine reports that researchers in the Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University conducted three different experiments, but in each one, most of the adults could not reproduce the loop-tail g.
The reason for the confusion, the researchers believe, is that unlike other lowercase letters, the loop-tail g is as much a stylistic conceit as an actual letter. We are required to recognize it but, typically, not to reproduce it.
The lower-case g actually comes in two typographic forms: The fish hook, a circle with a left facing curl beneath it - that we were taught in school; and the loop-tail with two closed, connected circles - that most people find hard to reproduce.
Go ahead and see if you can identify the correct g in this survey:
Pop quiz: Our cognitive scientists explored why most people can read this common printed version of the letter "g", yet had trouble writing it when prompted. Can you guess which of the four versions in the video is the correct "looptail g"? pic.twitter.com/kXGViUoG7r
- Johns Hopkins U. (@JohnsHopkins) April 4, 2018
Here is how people on Twitter fared:
thought it was #1 for sure bc regularly the line for the g is on the right
- laya (@leah_imperial) April 6, 2018
I write looptail g's sometimes when I feel fancy
- Kripa Gupta (@KripaGupta7) April 6, 2018
And I use number 1
What have I been doing all my life??? pic.twitter.com/lIHIZvlTbR
I thought it was the second one
- Maria (@Gonzmariah) April 6, 2018
Were you able to correctly identify the g? While most people answered 1, the correct answer is actually option 3.
For those who played our game, here he is the correct version of the "looptail g"! Thanks for playing! pic.twitter.com/tySOueEGbx
- Johns Hopkins U. (@JohnsHopkins) April 5, 2018
The Time magazine reports that researchers in the Department of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University conducted three different experiments, but in each one, most of the adults could not reproduce the loop-tail g.
The reason for the confusion, the researchers believe, is that unlike other lowercase letters, the loop-tail g is as much a stylistic conceit as an actual letter. We are required to recognize it but, typically, not to reproduce it.
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