bracketsaffect
Bracketsaffect is a term used in typography and cognitive studies to describe the influence brackets have on how readers perceive and process text. The term is not a formal theory but a descriptive label for a set of observed effects relating to punctuation marks that enclose supplementary, optional, or clarifying content.
Origin: The phrase emerged in discussions about punctuation in digital texts during the 2010s and has been
Effects: Brackets signal that the enclosed material is supplementary, editorial, or non-essential. They can alter perceived
Applications: In user interface design, researchers study how bracketed cues influence attention and task performance. In
Limitations: The effects are context-dependent and vary with language, medium, and reader familiarity. There is no
See also: punctuation, brackets, parentheses, typographic conventions, readability.