Bouma

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The term bouma (pronounced "bowma") is sometimes used in the work of cognitive psychology to mean the shape of a cluster of letters, often a whole word.

Some typographers believe that, when reading, people can recognize words by deciphering boumas, not just individual letters. The claim is that this is a natural strategy for increasing reading efficiency.

The term bouma is a reduction of "Bouma-shape", which was probably first used in Paul Saenger's 1997 book "Space between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading", although Saenger himself attributes it to Insup & Maurice Martin Taylor. Its origin is in reference to hypotheses by a prominent vision researcher, H. Bouma, who studied the shapes and confusability of letters and letter strings.

In Geology, the term 'Bouma Sequence' refers to a distinct pattern of sedimentary beds laid down by a turbidity current in the deep sea, after Arnord H. Bouma, a geologist.

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