Pitch-based correspondences related to abstract concepts

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Psycholinguistics
• Auditory Perception

Background:

• Previous research established pitch-based correspondences with perceptual and conceptual attributes.
• The current study explores novel pitch-based associations with abstract concepts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate pitch-based correspondences with abstract temporal concepts (future/past) and spatial concepts (in/out).
• To determine if these correspondences extend beyond concrete perceptual formats.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted with varying levels of task implicitness.
• Participants completed association tasks linking pitch with abstract concepts.

Main Results:

• High-pitch sounds were associated with the concepts of future and in.
• Low-pitch sounds were associated with the concepts of past and out.
• Correspondence effects were stronger for abstract temporal concepts than concrete spatial concepts.

Conclusions:

• Pitch-based correspondences extend to abstract temporal concepts, even without explicit spatial metaphorization.
• These findings suggest semantic multimodal abstraction processes, potentially influenced by affective dimensions, underlie these pitch-concept links.