From talking to people casually about this sensation it seems that
most people experience it, but nobody I have ever talked to can name
it or provide any information about it.

After a while of repeating the same (common, simple) word over and
over again, either writing, speaking, reading, typing, etc... The word
starts to look/sound very strange. It could be the simplest word in
the world, like "pie", but after repeating the exact same word so many
times without problems, the person will suddenly have to do a double
take, and spend a moment verifying that the word is indeed correct.

Is this a known/documented phenomenon? Does it have a name? Thanks!

The term for this is "semantic satiation." An earlier term is "lapse
of meaning." The phenomenon has been studied extensively, and tests
and measurements have been devised by social scientists. Research in
this area has applications in fields as diverse as special education,
advertising theory, behavior modification, and stress reduction
therapy.

Here are excerpts from, and links to, several online articles which
define and describe semantic satiation and the ways in which it is
being investigated:

"When a word is repeatedly produced or perceived, many people
experience what has become known as the semantic satiation effect, a
subjective and temporary loss of the meaning of that word."

Tufts University: On the Locus of the Semantic Satiation Effect
http://neurocog.psy.tufts.edu/papers/semsatMC.htm

"There is a classical introspective observation (or experiment) from
the Titchenerian era on what was called the 'loss of meaning' of an
isolated printed word after it had been fixated for some time. The
same lapse occurs when a word is spoken repeatedly. The phenomenon was
considered a loss of the associative power of the word by Severance
and Washburn in 1907. It was also studied by Bassett and Warne in 1919
and by Don and Weld in 1924. It was taken to support an association
theory of meaning, especially Titchener's core-context theory... The
phenomenon has been taken up recently by W. W. Lambert and renamed. He
calls it semantic satiation."

Kansas State University: Loss of Word-Meaning with Prolonged Fixation
http://www.ksu.edu/psych/farris/gibson/files/loss.html

"A natural comparison condition is given by semantic satiation, a
sense of lost meaning after a few dozen repetitions of a word...
Satiated words are auditorily conscious. But the meaning of satiated
words can be reinstated by reminding people of a suitable semantic
context. The reader is encouraged to try this by repeating any word
for half a minute or so. If the meaning fades, it can often be
reinstated by thinking of a new context in which it has a meaning. Yet
neither the original meaning nor the faded meaning has perceptual
qualities."

Center for Semiotics, University of Aarhus: A Prefrontal Hypothesis of
Fringe Experiences
http://www.hum.au.dk/semiotics/docs/epub/arc/baars/bbaars1/bbaars1.htm

"Choose any simple word or a syllable that first comes to your mind
and repeat it silently many times. This repetition paralyzes the
distracting thoughts and enables you to continue focusing during the
recitation. In their verbal games, children find that the fast
repetition of a word obliterates its meaning and stops all other
thoughts. Scientists have found the same effect in their laboratories,
during cognitive studies and call it semantic satiation. The Mantra of
the Yogi has the same use in the various Eastern meditations. This
tactic is also recommended to stop unpleasant or disturbing thoughts
occurring in other circumstances."

Freedom Now: A Guide for Self Help
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3150/content2.htm

"After 'semantic satiation' a rapidly repeated word will lose its
cognitive savor; we naturally say a word in this case has 'lost its
meaning.' The effect is familiar to most children. It is quite
amenable to experiment, and it has been called since Severance and
Washburn (1907) a 'lapse of meaning.' This sort of meaning lapse is a
completely introspective phenomenon, but its experimental manipulation
yields consistent results. So, for example, Wertheimer and Gillis
(1958) reported that image related words retain their feeling of
meaning longer than abstract words."

Psyche: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Consciousness
http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v7/psyche-7-18-mangan.html

Here is an article that discusses at length this fascinating and
puzzling phenomenon:

University of Hawaii College of Social Sciences: Semantic Satiation
and Cognitive Dynamics
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499s99/yamauchi/semantic.htm

My Google search strategy:

"semantic satiation"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22semantic+satiation

"lapse of meaning"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22lapse+of+meaning

Thanks for asking an interesting question. I hope this information is
useful (and I hope I have not 'satiated' you to the point of drowning
in data!)

If anything I've said is in need of explanation, or if any of the
links do not function, please request clarification before rating my
answer, and I'll gladly provide further assistance.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 04 Nov 2002 23:16 PST

Thank you *very* much for the five-star rating and the five-dollar
tip!

This was one of the most interesting questions I've ever researched. I
appreciated the opportunity to give my mind a workout! ;-)

~Pink

Thank you! You've given a phenomenally complete answer to a question
I've had forever now. Couldn't be happier about having it finally
solved.

pinkfreud-ga: I used to wonder about that all the time! When I was a
kid I would sometimes say "hour" over and over to myself until it
sounded very strange to me. Thanks for solving the conundrum here.

These are all observations though, not explanations - there is no
argument the phenomenon exists - but what causes it?
.
I ran this by one of the experts from AskanExpert.com. Dr. Stuart
Bunt, Director of the Department of Anatomy and Human Biology of
University of Western Australia, aka "Dr. Brains" (from
askanexpert.com), replied to me as follows:
.
"I was trying to think why, the best I can come up with is that
normally we have learnt the associations long ago in our childhood and
laid down
particular automatic routes for associating sounds and words, words
and meaning.  These would be constructed of certain brain connections,
synapses
in particular arrangements. Normally when you hear a word once (or
read or see it) we reuse and confirm these old automatic associations
and just think "pie" (with its associated meaning, sound, smell,
flavour etc.).
.
When we repeat things over and over we are probably learning a new
route to the sound or word, laying down new unfamiliar links, linking
the word, not so much to all the other meanings we have learnt over
the years (for "pie" for example) but now to simply a sound, or visual
etc.  These new connections are "unfamiliar" and now we have
(temporarily at least) linked the word "pie" to a new experience, that
of hearing it over and over and this can almost stop or overcome the
normal associations.
.
Just an educated guess but I don't know of any published studies.  If
I am correct this phenomenon should be more pronounced with "common"
or familiar words and not really occur when it is a new word that is
being learnt?"
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Brains (from askanexpert.com)
(also known as Dr Stuart Bunt)
Department of Anatomy and Human Biology
University of Western Australia
Homepage: http://iaaf.anhb.uwa.edu.au/smbunt/smbframed.html