In an experiment with typists who could type over 40 words per minute (WPM) using all of their fingers, scientists are now discovering that the human brain uses two different mechanism to detect typos. By using sneaky algorithms in a decoy word processor, researchers were able to manipulate what appears on the typist’s screen–showing errors 6% of the time in a document that typists had typed to be free of those errors, and also correcting 45% of user’s true errors, displaying them as the correctly intended word on the screen.
Click on to learn what scientists learned from the typists.
What did scientists learn? In a post-experiment questionnaire, typists both took the blame for the errors that the doctored word processor introduced (in the 6% case) and also took credit for the corrected errors (in the 45% case). However, while the brain sees one thing, the fingers were most honest. After creating an error, the typist’s next keystroke was slowed down, even if those errors were fixed by the system, as in the 45% case that we had discussed earlier.
The experiment shows that there are two ways for catching errors, but it’s still unclear whether one operates at a higher level or if they work in tandem. For now, these error-detecting layers may explain for how we can go on auto-pilot driving home or walking to a familiar place, or play the piano, or learn a new language.
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