Neuroscientists at Freie Universität Berlin show that spoken words can sharpen the sense of touch in ways music cannot

Language allows humans to convey thoughts and ideas – it is a central means of communication. However, language also influences how we perceive the world through our senses, as demonstrated by a new study from the Brain Language Laboratory at Freie Universität Berlin. In experiments led by Tally McCormick Miller, researchers found that linguistic stimuli enhanced tactile perception, while music did not. Their study appeared in the scholarly journal Language and Cognition and is available online at https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2025.10006.