Transposed letter effect

In psychology, the transposed letter effect is a phenomenon in which letters within a word are switched. The phenomenon takes place when two letters in a word (typically called a base word) switch positions to create a new string of letters that form a new, non-word (typically called a transposed letter non-word or TL non-word). It is a form of priming because the transposed letter non-word is able to activate the lexical representation of its base word. A non-word that is created by transposing letters in a base word is significantly more effective at being a prime for that base word than would be a prime created by exchanging letters from the base word with random letters that were not originally in the base word. For example, the TL non-word stduent would be a more effective prime than would be the non-word stobent for the base word student. Priming is an effect of implicit memory where exposure to a certain stimulus, event, or experience affects responding to a different stimulus. Typically, the event causes the stimulus to become more salient. The transposed letter effect can be used as a form of priming.