Space-pitch associations differ in their susceptibility to language

Abstract

To what extent are links between musical pitch and space universal, and to what extent are they shaped by language? There is contradictory evidence in support of both universality and linguistic relativity presently, leaving the question open. To address this, speakers of Dutch who talk about pitch in terms of spatial height and speakers of Turkish who use a thickness metaphor were tested in simple nonlinguistic space-pitch association tasks. Both groups showed evidence of a thickness-pitch association, but differed significantly in their heightpitch associations, suggesting the latter may be more susceptible to language. When participants had to match pitches to spatial stimuli where height and thickness were opposed (i.e., a thick line high in space vs. a thin line low in space), Dutch and Turkish differed in their relative preferences. Whereas Turkish participants predominantly opted for a thickness-pitch interpretation-even if this meant a reversal of height-pitch mappings-Dutch participants favored a height-pitch interpretation more often. These findings provide new evidence that speakers of different languages vary in their space-pitch associations, while at the same time showing such associations are not equally susceptible to linguistic influences. Some space-pitch (i.e., heightpitch) associations are more malleable than others (i.e., thickness-pitch).

Crossmodal Associations with Olfactory, Auditory, and Tactile Stimuli in Children and Adults

“…An alternative route to learning crossmodal associations is from semantic information, specifically through language. For example, the increased mapping between high pitch and high space is enhanced when high pitches are described as high in the language ( Dolscheid et al, 2020 ). Language may also serve to reinforce associations learned from the environment: for instance, odor–color associations differ depending on how odors are described ( de Valk et al, 2017 ; Goubet et al, 2018 ; Speed & Majid, 2018 ), and the mapping between thickness and pitch is more robust in young children who are learning a language that uses a thickness metaphor to describe pitch ( Shayan et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Neither high pitch nor low pitch was significantly matched to high or low space, except in the adult group, and even then only high pitch showed a reliable association with high space. This is puzzling at first considering the number of existing demonstrations of a pitch–height mapping (e.g., Dolscheid et al, 2014 ; Starr & Srinivasan, 2018 ), however other studies suggest this mapping may be more fragile than previously realized (see, e.g., Dolscheid et al, 2020 ; Nava et al, 2016 ). This discrepancy could be the result of the specific stimuli used.…”

“…There is evidence that crossmodal associations with pitch become stronger with age ( Cuturi et al, 2019 ; Starr & Srinivasan, 2018 ). This could occur if associations are learned from statistical regularities in the environment (such as pitch and height; Parise et al, 2014 ), or if they are strengthened by language (e.g., by describing pitch with thin and thick ; Shayan et al, 2014 ; see also Dolscheid et al, 2020 ; Nava et al, 2016 ; Starr et al, 2020 ; Starr & Srinivasan, 2018 ). On the other hand, it has been suggested that associations between tactile stimuli and chroma decline with age: Ludwig and Simner (2013) found significant associations between chroma and tactile properties in children but not adults, suggesting innateness of associations (cf., neonatal synaesthesia 1 ; Maurer & Mondloch, 2005 ), which is lost during development through processes such as neural pruning.…”

“…Widening the scope of existing studies then, we conducted three experiments assessing crossmodal associations with auditory pitch, tactile stimuli, and odors, and a range of perceptual dimensions that have so far been studied separately. For pitch, we assessed dimensions previously shown to have consistent crossmodal associations with pitch—shape ( Marks et al, 1987 ), brightness ( Marks, 1974 ; Marks et al, 1987 ), spatial height ( Bernstein & Edelstein, 1971 ; Dolscheid et al, 2014 ; Dolscheid et al, 2020 ; Nava et al, 2016 ; Starr & Srinivasan, 2018 ), size ( Gallace & Spence, 2006 ; Marks, 1974 ; Parise & Spence, 2012 ), and thickness ( Dolscheid et al, 2020 ; Shayan et al, 2014 ; Starr & Srinivasan, 2018 ). We also tested crossmodal associations between haptic sharpness and weight with pitch.…”

“…Based on previous studies, we propose several hypotheses. Associations of pitch with spatial height, thickness, size, and brightness, should be observed from an early age (Dolscheid et al, 2014;Mondloch & Maurer, 2004;Shayan et al, 2014;Walker et al, 2010), but also increase with age (e.g., Cuturi et al, 2019;Dolscheid et al, 2020;Starr & Srinivasan, 2018). In contrast, associations between tactile dimensions and chroma should be observed early but reduce with age since they are thought to be innate associations that diminish over time due to neural pruning (Ludwig & Simner, 2013).…”