I don't think it's that hard. But I did notice that I could give an almost immediate answer the question "An example of a bird is ______", whereas my first reac

I don't think it's that hard. But I did notice that I could give an almost immediate answer the question "An example of a bird is ______", whereas my first reaction to "A bird is an example of ____" was "uff" and just kept on reading the article. Then I read your comment and I thought, is it really hard? And then I actually tried to get an answer. It was even easier than the first one (I just said "animal" :P). So I think the article does have a point. It's not that it's harder, our brain's initial reaction makes it look hard. And maybe it's because it's easier to process and deliver concrete information rather than vague or abstract. On a side note, I wonder if these two questions asked to little kids instead of students would have different results...