High‐Pitched Sound is Open and Low‐Pitched Sound is Closed: Representing the Spatial Meaning of Pitch Height

Abstract

Research shows that high‐ and low‐pitch sounds can be associated with various meanings. For example, high‐pitch sounds are associated with small concepts, whereas low‐pitch sounds are associated with large concepts. This study presents three experiments revealing that high‐pitch sounds are also associated with open concepts and opening hand actions, while low‐pitch sounds are associated with closed concepts and closing hand actions. In Experiment 1, this sound‐meaning correspondence effect was shown using the two‐alternative forced‐choice task, while Experiments 2 and 3 used reaction time tasks to show this interaction. In Experiment 2, high‐pitch vocalizations were found to facilitate opening hand gestures, and low‐pitch vocalizations were found to facilitate closing hand gestures, when performed simultaneously. In Experiment 3, high‐pitched vocalizations were produced particularly rapidly when the visual target stimulus presented an open object, and low‐pitched vocalizations were produced particularly rapidly when the target presented a closed object. These findings are discussed concerning the meaning of intonational cues. They are suggested to be based on cross‐modally representing conceptual spatial knowledge in sensory, motor, and affective systems. Additionally, this pitch‐opening effect might share cognitive processes with other pitch‐meaning effects.