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Two Spaces After Period Are Better Than One, Except Maybe They Aren't, Study Finds

posted by Fnord666 on Friday May 11 2018, @12:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the BBC-thinks-it's-a-paragraph-break-after-a-period dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

In what may be one of the most controversial studies of the year, researchers at Skidmore College—clearly triggered by a change in the American Psychological Association (APA) style book—sought to quantify the benefits of two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence. After conducting an eye-tracking experiment with 60 Skidmore students, Rebecca L. Johnson, Becky Bui, and Lindsay L. Schmitt found that two spaces at the end of a period slightly improved the processing of text during reading. The research was trumpeted by some press outlets as a vindication of two-spacers' superiority.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/05/two-spaces-after-period-are-better-than-one-except-maybe-they-arent-study-finds/

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday May 11 2018, @05:38PM (2 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday May 11 2018, @05:38PM (#678503) Journal

    Ah yes, the universe is unknowable therefore my BS is the same as your science.

    I'm pretty sure it is possible to study the lump of logic circuitry that lives between the ears of most humans.

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Friday May 11 2018, @07:46PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Friday May 11 2018, @07:46PM (#678549)

    I agree with your second line, but I don't think "the academic community" in that field is rational, mostly.

  • (Score: 2) by crafoo on Friday May 11 2018, @09:54PM

    by crafoo (6639) on Friday May 11 2018, @09:54PM (#678582)

    Yes, but that field is neuroscience, not psychology. Psychology is a mix of crackpots, scammers, and really, really bad statistical studies conducted by people who have no real working knowledge of statistics.