15 Awesome Names For Things You Never Knew Had Names
2. Semantic Satiation
If youve been reading these words about words for long enough, for some, the word word might stop looking or sounding like the word word, or indeed like a word at all. If that sentence came true for you, then congratulations! youve just experienced semantic satiation. Semantic satiation refers to the phenomenon when a word is repeated enough times that it loses meaning for the reader or listener, who then perceive the word temporarily as meaningless sounds. Really, saying any word or name out loud enough times or even staring at it for long enough can trigger semantic satiation. Neurologically, this phenomenon is caused by rapid repetition causing the neural activation associated with the meaning of that word to become reduced in intensity with each successive repetition. In actuality, this phenomenon lets you know when you should stop reading and go to sleep when youve stared at the word cheese and repeated it to yourself five hundred times to the point where nothing means anything anymore.
Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.
