Why do I need to be able to pronounce a word to recall it?

Humans evolved to remember sounds, not letters, so this isn’t surprising, say our readers – but we can easily remember words for which we have conceived an incorrect pronunciation

5 July 2023

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When I read a word that I don’t know how to pronounce, I can’t remember it. Why do I need to be able to pronounce a word for my brain to recall it?

Guy Cox
Sydney, Australia

Humans had been using language for a very long time before writing was invented, so this isn’t really surprising. We have evolved to remember sounds, not letters.

But the funny thing is that we only have such poor memory for written words when we can’t guess how to pronounce them. We can perfectly remember words for which we have conceived an incorrect pronunciation.…