I've done a number of informal tests on friends and family over the years regarding brace placement, and it's always been the same: For someone with NO experience programming (i.e. looking at what to them seems like a bunch of gobbletygoop - and what's a "text editor"?), adjacent braces make it appear more readable than same-line braces.
It's only people who cut their teeth on adjacent bracing that find it more readable.