Don’t continue reading if you have not yet watched the video above as the text relates to the video and it may contain spoilers that will make the video less enjoyable.
Did you read the phrase, “A Bird in the hand?”
So many people will read that phrase as that.
Missing out the second word ‘the’ feels pretty strange.
There are a number of factors at play here.
Firstly expectancy, the phrase ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ is a common one and the shorter version of ‘a bird in the hand’. The brain sees the words in a familiar configuration and starts to do a little guesswork in order to save time.
However, that is how we are able to trick the brain here.
In order to get an extra advantage the words are placed into a triangle shape. This is an unusual shape for words to be laid out in. Usually our text is, at least in the West, presenter along a horizontal line and usually from left to right.
The triangle breaks up the straight horizontal formation and forces the eyes to read in a direction that they are normally not used to, top to bottom.
Presented with this unusual setting your brain sought out how something familiar, the phrase that it already knew., ‘a bird in the hand’ and increased your reliability on your memory instead of reading the text as fresh.
Something cool to try with your friends and family
If you enjoyed this little bit of psychological mind play then I would suggest downloading the free eBook below. It will teach you the secret of how to play with minds. This means you will be able to get inside your friends heads and really shock them with your new found abilities:
