But keyboards may have an impact on the emotional associations we have with words as well. It has been found that words consisting of a higher proportion of letters from the right-hand side of a QWERTY keyboard – those from “yâ€, “h†and “n†onwards – have more positive associations. This phenomenon is known as the “QWERTY effectâ€.
Researchers have previously tested the idea by asking English, Dutch and Spanish speakers to rate their positive association with different words, including made-up ones such as “ploke†and “pleekâ€. One study even found that baby names with a higher proportion of right-side letters grew in popularity after QWERTY keyboards became widespread in the 1960s.
