Presenter
Grace Williams
Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
Studies have shown that people pronounce certain groups of letters the same way, even in situations where they are presented with words that are not real, such as "rop" or "toin." These cases are called "pseudowords." This theory can be also be applied to certain sets of numbers called "pseudonumbers." An experiment was conducted to test one specific type of pseudonumber: telephone numbers. A group of thirty JWU students were separated into a control and treatment group. The control group was given an unbroken string of numbers, while the treatment group was given the same set of numbers hyphenated to look like a phone number. The test recorded how each participant pronounced the number zero. This presentation displays the results of the experiment and invites others to try it out.
Faculty Mentor
Jaimie Stone, M.S.
Academic Discipline
College of Food Innovation & Technology
Repository Citation
Williams, Grace, "The Pseudonumber Phenomenon: An Analysis" (2026). Student Research Design & Innovation Symposium. 358.
https://scholarsarchive.jwu.edu/innov_symposium/358
