http://www.gameswithwords.org/TheCommunicationGame/index.html
Good Morning;
And get your thinking caps on!
Words are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding what someone says.
Much is left unsaid.
Read sentences and try to figure out what they mean. How good are you at reading between the lines?
This should take you between 2 and 4 minutes, depending on connection speed.
Sentences are very short, and written on a 3rd grade level. So this should be easy for anyone.
One little caveat.
You must include your copy/paste personal score if you wish to comment.
Have fun! I did.
XOXO
Me
* This study has been approved by the Harvard University Institutional Review Board.
Image from smart-kit.com
ReplyDeleteAfter you have taken it, compare your score to a younger child. (If you can hold one down for 2-4 minutes).
hehehe
XOXO
Me
Mmm, i got 70% not that bad .x
ReplyDeleteThat was very interesting and all those double negatives were tough, but I got 23 out of 24 possible points, which is equal to 95%.
ReplyDeleteSo, for what it's worth, you got 22 out of 24 possible points, which is equal to 91%. So far, the average person gets 80% correct, with 2/3 of players getting between 67% and 93% correct. Keep in mind that each person gets a slightly different version of the game, with some versions being harder than others.
ReplyDeleteIn this particular version of the Communication Game, we are looking at inferences people make based on words like "some" and "two." For instance, if I say, "Sally has two children," does that imply that she has only two children? It probably depends on context.
Suppose the context is, "How many children does Sally have?" Then "Sally has two children" means she has exactly two. But what if the context is, "We need two kids for this play. Do you know anyone who has two children?" Then "Sally has two children," might simply mean that she has at least two.
On certain theories of linguistics, the interpretation of "two" -- "exactly two" or "at least two" -- depends systematically on context, and "some" varies in the same way in the same contexts between "at least some" and "only some".
We think this theory is right, but decades of psychological research show that it's easy to convince yourself you're right. This is where you come in: we are seeing whether your judgments align with the theory. We had this theory in mind when we designed the experiment, so in a sense, your score reflects how closely your intuitions match the theory's predictions. If many people have low scores, that will be bad news for the theory...but nonetheless good news for science, since we'll know more about how language works.
I really dislike double negatives.... next time remind me to put my glasses on first...
ReplyDeleteI really want to know which ones I got wrong.....
ReplyDeleteHEY! You can't comment! You did not post your score~!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually fairly certain of the ne I got wrong although I can't tell you the exact question right now. When I was answering I said to myself "I'm either going to get all of these incorrect or I'm doing pretty well." I was leaning towards all incorrect
ReplyDeleteOh and DeeAnne Never not wears her glasses
ReplyDeletethat answer was wrong...
ReplyDeleteDeeAnne always not wears her glasses.... bad habit. I am trying really hard to wear them in that I now have a pair laying just about anywhere and one in my purse.... but as a general rule, they are not on my face.
75%........lmao ......assuming too much I guess....like if she has three kids, thats more than two, so she can join the darn club.
ReplyDeleteI have brain strain now. If I still have one left that is. Or is that two since our brain is actually one with two halves???? Left brain, right brain.....one head...oh my!!....now which side am I thinking with today?!?
ReplyDelete69% and I'm a very confused person at the best of times, :-(
ReplyDelete