Semantic satiation: Does this even exist?

Have you ever sometimes repeated a word continuously and felt that it sounds weird or that it doesn’t make sense? You may end up doubting whether this word even exists or whether this is the right way to spell it, even if the word is a very simple one such as ‘pocket’ or ‘gadget’.

In simple words, this happens because our brain becomes tired of responding to the same stimulus again and again, that is, in this case, processing the meaning of a word.

You keep on looking at the particular word or continuously repeat it in your head and it starts to lose its meaning.

Our brain simply denies to process its meaning thus leading us to thinking that this word doesn’t make sense!

You just need to wait a few minutes and your brain will start to process the particular word again.

So now you know if you ever get stuck on a word after repeating it continuously, it’s “semantic satiation”.

Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash