Time Is Not More Abstract Than Space in Sound

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Linguistics

Background:

• Conceptual Metaphor Theory posits abstract domains like time are understood via concrete domains like space.
• Previous research suggests embodied, language-independent asymmetries between time and space perception.
• The role of sensory modality in these asymmetries remains unclear, particularly concerning audition's link to temporal processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether the perceived asymmetry between time and space is modality-specific.
• To examine the mutual influence of temporal duration, spatial displacement, and auditory pitch within the auditory modality.
• To test the hypothesis that space is less relevant to audition than time.

Main Methods:

• Experiment 1: Auditory perceptual task assessing mutual influence between temporal duration and spatial displacement.
• Experiment 2: Investigated mutual effects of space, time, and pitch using auditory stimuli.
• Judgments of spatial distance and pitch perception were assessed under varying temporal and spatial conditions.

Main Results:

• Experiment 1: Temporal duration and spatial displacement were mutually contagious, with a larger effect of time on space.
• Experiment 2: Time and pitch were mutually contagious. Auditory frequency variations affected spatial distance judgments, but spatial distance did not affect pitch judgments.
• Results indicate a perceptual asymmetry where auditory frequency influences spatial perception, but not vice versa.

Conclusions:

• The perceptual asymmetry between spatial and temporal domains is not universal across sensory modalities.
• Auditory modality findings challenge the notion that time is inherently more abstract than space.
• These results suggest modality-specific interactions shape our perception of time and space.