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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 11, 2026

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

Using Eye Movements Recorded in the Visual World Paradigm to Explore the Online Processing of Spoken Language

Published on: October 13, 2018

Seeing objects through the language glass.

Bastien Boutonnet¹, Benjamin Dering, Nestor Viñas-Guasch

¹School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, UK. b.boutonnet@bangor.ac.uk

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience

|May 8, 2013

Summary

Language influences how we perceive objects, even unconsciously. This study found brain differences in English and Spanish speakers, showing language terminology impacts object categorization.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Linguistics
Psychology

Background:

The Whorfian hypothesis suggests language shapes perception.
Previous studies relied on inconsistent behavioral measures.
Electrophysiological evidence for language's effect on perception is lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

To provide the first electrophysiological evidence for unconscious effects of language terminology on object perception.
To investigate how distinct linguistic labels influence object categorization.
To compare brain responses in native English and Spanish speakers.

Main Methods:

Utilized a visual oddball paradigm with event-related brain potentials (ERPs).
Tested native Spanish and English speakers in an object detection task.
Compared early deviant-related negativity (ERF component) between language groups.

Main Results:

English speakers showed a greater early deviant-related negativity than Spanish speakers.
This difference correlated with the number of distinct terms for objects (e.g., cup/mug vs. 'taza').
Electrophysiological data revealed language-specific effects on object categorization.

Conclusions:

Language terminology significantly affects unconscious object perception.
Electrophysiology provides robust evidence for the Whorfian hypothesis.
Linguistic differences in object labeling have measurable neurophysiological consequences.