Study finds influence of smaller jersey numbers on perception - ESPN

For decades, some NFL wide receivers have said they look better when they wear low numbers compared to the traditional range of 80 to 89. Now there is scientific research to back up that seemingly superficial sentiment.

A peer-reviewed study by UCLA researchers found that perception can be influenced by the associations made between numbers and size through the brain's cognitive process. The study, which will be published this week in the journal PLOS One, exposed subjects to images of different football jersey numbers to measure their perception of the person wearing it. The smaller the number, the more likely the subject was to perceive a slimmer player.

«We were surprised that there is a connection and then even more so surprised that the connection is so robust,» said Ladan Shams, a cognitive neuroscientist who is a professor of psychology, neuroscience and bioengineering at UCLA. «It's not just when we contrasted large numbers with small ones. When we looked at the relationship between the ratings of size and slenderness and the numbers, [and] we did a very small range, like from 17 to 19, we see a very robust correlation.»

Shams' interest in the subject piqued after conducting an interview for a 2019 ESPN story on the modern-day migration of NFL wide receivers into numbers between 10 and 19, a process started by former New York Jets receiver Keyshawn Johnson in 1996. The NFL formally relaxed its rules for eligible receiver numbers in 2004, and by 2019, about 80% of receivers were wearing numbers between 10 and 19. (Following a series of subsequent rule changes, receivers in 2023 can wear numbers from 0-49 and 80-89.)

Receivers interviewed by ESPN at the time offered various explanations for their preference for