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Sensory Psycholinguistics

Expected online publication date:  09 November 2026

Norbert Vanek
Affiliation:
The University of Auckland

Summary

Are words special in shaping how we perceive the world, or can nonverbal cues such as shape, colour or sound activate knowledge about sensory perceptions in similar ways? A growing body of psycholinguistic research suggests that language labels provide a uniquely powerful boost to perception, supporting discrimination, pattern recognition and category learning across complex multisensory input types. This Element surveys recent advances in sensory psycholinguistics, the study of how language influences perception through vision, hearing, touch, smell and taste. It introduces core concepts, reviews landmark experiments across each sensory modality and contextualises innovative methods together with a variety of related measures. Designed for both new and experienced researchers, the Element invites critical reflection on how linguistic cues influence perceptual processing and meaning-making. The five senses are examined in a reversed hierarchical order (smell, taste, touch, hearing, vision) to underscore that commonly assumed sensory hierarchies are neither universal nor cross-culturally uniform.

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Sensory Psycholinguistics
  • Norbert Vanek, The University of Auckland
  • Online ISBN: 9781009728027
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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Sensory Psycholinguistics
  • Norbert Vanek, The University of Auckland
  • Online ISBN: 9781009728027
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Sensory Psycholinguistics
  • Norbert Vanek, The University of Auckland
  • Online ISBN: 9781009728027
Available formats No formats are currently available for this content.
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