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Neuroscientists at Freie Universität Berlin show that spoken words can sharpen the sense of touch in ways music cannot
Language allows humans to convey thoughts and ideas – it is a central means of communication. However, language also influences how we perceive the world through our senses, as demonstrated by a new study from the Brain Language Laboratory at Freie Universität Berlin. In experiments led by Tally McCormick Miller, researchers found that linguistic stimuli enhanced tactile perception, while music did not. Their study appeared in the scholarly journal Language and Cognition and is available online at https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2025.10006.
Participants in the study learned to associate subtle tactile patterns on their fingertips, similar to Braille, with specific auditory signals. One set of patterns was paired with spoken pseudowords (such as “gnarf” or “fromp”), while the other set was associated with short sequences of musical notes. After five days of training, participants became significantly better at distinguishing the tactile patterns that had been paired with words – but not those paired with music. Given this discrepancy, the researchers argue that linguistic input directly shapes sensory perception.
“Our results show that language has a unique power to enhance perceptual discrimination,” says Miller. “Even meaningless word forms can restructure sensory representations in the brain, helping people detect fine differences they couldn’t feel before.”
The researchers explain that the effect derives from how language engages multimodal brain circuits, linking auditory, motor, and somatosensory regions. The findings shed new light on the neurobiological basis of linguistic relativity and on how words can fine-tune sensory processing.
The study, “Language, but Not Music, Shapes Tactile Perception,” was conducted in collaboration with the Cluster of Excellence “Science of Intelligence” and with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Tally McCormick Miller, Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Email: tally.miller@fu-berlin.de
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/language-and-cognition/article/language-...
https://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/v/brainlang/index.html
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