# Why is reading text upside down so relatively easy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347 "2008-07-13T18:38:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/1 "2008-07-13T18:38:21Z")
Many people, including myself, can read upside down text relatively easily. It takes a touch more focus than normal reading, but not much. Why is it so easy? Upside down text looks completely different, you’d think it would be much more difficult for the brain to interpret, but it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/2 "2008-07-13T18:51:32Z")
This is just an educated quess: You recognise an apple if it is upside down. Same thing goes for words. Reading involves recognising the overall ‘shape’ of a word. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/3 "2008-07-13T18:53:48Z")
Deos it hvae aythnig to do wtih tihs? ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/4 "2008-07-13T19:28:21Z")
[QUOTE=ivan astikov] Deos it hvae aythnig to do wtih tihs? [/QUOTE] Deispte psearollny linkacg the riteusqie psltoigunsihycic extepirse to ronsped to the peceridng qreuy aoivrtluehttiay, neoeenthlss, I salhl cotnelindfy pcoonnrue taht, aslomt crilteany, any scuh cneotoicnn is miimanl and atccniedal, the pesooprd pnhmeonoen you are imlcliitpy refnierrg to psisosnesg olny the msot gsmasoer esecitxne to strat wtih. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/5 "2008-07-13T19:45:11Z")
[QUOTE=Lobsang] Reading involves recognising the overall ‘shape’ of a word. [/QUOTE] If it’s just down to recognising word shapes, why can’t everyone read upside down as well as they can the right way up? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/6 "2008-07-13T20:07:25Z")
[QUOTE=Alive At Both Ends] If it’s just down to recognising word shapes, why can’t everyone read upside down as well as they can the right way up? [/QUOTE] Another guess: Because it’s harder to recognise things when they are not upright. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/7 "2008-07-13T21:45:45Z")
I think Lobsang is right. But, then, on the other hand, Lobsang is also right. It is said that salesmen can read upside down even better than they can read right side up. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/8 "2008-07-13T23:30:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Deispte psearollny linkacg the riteusqie psltoigunsihycic extepirse to ronsped to the peceridng qreuy aoivrtluehttiay, neoeenthlss, I salhl cotnelindfy pcoonnrue taht, aslomt crilteany, any scuh cneotoicnn is miimanl and atccniedal, the pesooprd pnhmeonoen you are imlcliitpy refnierrg to psisosnesg olny the msot gsmasoer esecitxne to strat wtih. Tru dat. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/9 "2008-07-14T01:08:44Z")
If I remember Pinker correctly, it’s down to spatial reasoning. If you’re good at envisioning objects and mentally rotating them, upside down letters are no big deal. The more adjustment you have to do, though, the harder it is; upside-down words merely have to be rotated, mirrored words need to be flipped, and upside-down mirrored words need to be flipped and rotated, which is extremely difficult to do while simultaneously trying to read. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/10 "2008-07-14T01:28:08Z")
I’ve heard it said that we “learn” to read, not “memorize” it. The alphabet backwards is hard for most people who haven’t practiced it. However, you can recognize a letter, say, A, in a bunch of different handwritings, several cursive methods, and hundreds upon hundreds of fonts. You’ll know it’s an A in a font you’ve never seen before because you know A deep down, you use A all the time, and you see A everywhere you look. So you’ll know it upside down. You’ll have a harder time if you’ve, say, had a year of Japanese and memorized some kanji and then somebody asks you to recognize them upside down. I imagine you could do it if you’re spatially good, but it would be a lot harder than that A. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/11 "2008-07-14T01:33:06Z")
Just my WAG from experience, reading, and some paraphrasing of what’s already been stated. Proficient readers no longer interpret words as a collection of letters, they have effectively become pictograms. And the same as a picture of a house upside down is still recognizable as a house, the word house is identified the same way. You’re not seeing the letters h.o.u.s.e, but rather the composite shape. As to why some people are better, I’ll venture that there are two basic reasons. Either they don’t read enough for the pictogram effect to set in, or they just aren’t that good at rotating shapes in their heads. Some people just don’t have the spatial function to do that as easily as you or I. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/12 "2008-07-14T02:23:42Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I’ve heard it said that we “learn” to read, not “memorize” it. The alphabet backwards is hard for most people who haven’t practiced it. However, you can recognize a letter, say, A, in a bunch of different handwritings, several cursive methods, and hundreds upon hundreds of fonts. You’ll know it’s an A in a font you’ve never seen before because you know A deep down, you use A all the time, and you see A everywhere you look. So you’ll know it upside down. You’ll have a harder time if you’ve, say, had a year of Japanese and memorized some kanji and then somebody asks you to recognize them upside down. I imagine you could do it if you’re spatially good, but it would be a lot harder than that A. [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s probably easier to read Japanese than English upside down due to the way your brain interprets the different symbols. _Kanji_ are [processed differently](http://callierlibrary.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/the-stroop-effect-in-kana-and-kanji-scripts-in-native-japanese-speakers-an-fmri-study/) than alphabets or syllabaries. Reading them involves more discrimination and visual recognition than sound-based writing systems. Dyslexia that affects [Chinese character recognition](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/04/08/dyslexia-language-02.html) usually doesn’t affect the reading of _katakana_ or _hiragana_ due to this difference in processing strategies, and the reverse is true as well. The challenge with reading _kanji_ is rarely recognition — if you’ve learned the character before — it’s remembering which of the readings is used in the particular situation. Usually, only the Chinese-derived reading _(onyomi)_ is possible to guess if you’ve never studied a particular character, though you can usually make an educated guess about the **meaning** based on the constituent characters even if you don’t know the sound correspondence. It’s entirely possible for even literate native speakers to be unsure of the proper reading a character that they have no problem understanding the meaning of. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/13 "2008-07-14T04:19:43Z")
Are you left-handed? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/14 "2008-07-14T04:21:12Z")
[QUOTE=Duckster] Are you left-handed? [/QUOTE] If that question is for me as the OP, no I am not. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/15 "2008-07-14T05:05:31Z")
My job requires I read upside-down every day. I can do it as easily as rightside-up. I note however that some people are not so good at it as your OP would suggest. My guess, practice. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-reading-text-upside-down-so-relatively-easy/456347/16 "2008-07-14T10:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] My job requires I read upside-down every day. I can do it as easily as rightside-up. I note however that some people are not so good at it as your OP would suggest. My guess, practice. [/QUOTE] I have been able to read upside down for as long as I can remember (and I was reading from the age of four if not earlier - I don’t recall a time when I couldn’t read). I couldn’t have had very much practice at that age, but I could still do it.