Language, Perception, and Task Design: Multiple Factors Contribute to Children's Understanding of Pitch Metaphors

Language and perception are intimately linked in human cognition, yet the precise nature of their interaction remains unclear. In the domain of auditory pitch, languages often use metaphors by borrowing terminology from other domains. However, studies examining children's understanding of pitch metaphors have produced notably conflicting results. To address this issue, we investigated how German-speaking children comprehend familiar pitch metaphors from their native language and unfamiliar pitch terminology not used in German. While children were able to understand all the pitch metaphors tested, they displayed better comprehension of familiar than unfamiliar terminology, suggesting that linguistic experience boosts metaphor comprehension. In a cross-cultural comparison, we found that German-speaking children differed from Turkish-speaking children in line with differences in language. Critically, however, German-speaking children also differed from Dutch-speaking children. This was true although a height-pitch metaphor is used in both languages, suggesting that the mere presence of a metaphor in language is unlikely to account for the observed differences. We also found that pitch distance influenced children's metaphor comprehension, but differently for height-pitch versus thickness-pitch metaphors. In sum, our findings suggest that children's understanding of pitch metaphors is shaped by an intricate interplay of linguistic exposure, perceptual experiences, and experimental considerations.