The Wason verbal illusion is a cognitive illusion in psycholinguistics in which certain grammatically complex sentences are misinterpreted to mean the opposite of their literal meaning. Identified by Peter Wason and Shuli Reich in 1979, it demonstrates how pragmatic expectations and general world knowledge can override a sentence's literal syntactic meaning during comprehension; the best known example is the sentence No head injury is too trivial to be ignored, which most people read as meaning head injuries should not be ignored, even though its literal meaning implies the opposite, that every head injury should be ignored.
Facts
Core ClaimCertain grammatically complex sentences are misinterpreted to mean the opposite of their literal meaning. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
Associated With
Identified the effect with Shuli Reich in 1979.
In Branch
Source Wason verbal illusion (Wikipedia)
Source Wason verbal illusion (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Wason verbal illusion (Wikipedia)
Lead section, first sentence
The Wason verbal illusion is a cognitive illusion in psycholinguistics where certain grammatically complex sentences are misinterpreted to mean the opposite of their literal meaning.
Lead section, second sentence
Identified by Peter Wason and Shuli Reich in 1979, it shows how pragmatic expectations and world knowledge can override syntactic interpretation during comprehension.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The Wason verbal illusion is a cognitive illusion in psycholinguistics in which certain grammatically complex sentences are misinterpreted to mean the opposite of their literal meaning.
In Branch: Psycholinguistics, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Wason verbal illusion' is filed under Category:Psycholinguistics.
In Branch: Cognitive Psychology, Categories
Wikipedia article 'Wason verbal illusion' is filed under Category:Cognitive biases.
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