People are slower to respond to tactile words (e.g., “itchy”) than words from the others senses:
Psychologists think the answer may have to with attention. Perhaps we’re not so good at keeping our attention focused on the tactile modality compared with the others. Now [reseachers] have added to the picture by showing that the tactile disadvantage extends to the conceptual domain. That is, we seem to be slower at recognising when a word is tactile in nature than we are at recognising whether words are visual, to do with taste, sound, or smell.
Why are we touch-word disadvantaged?
They think this is because there’s little evolutionary advantage to sustaining attention to the tactile modality whereas there are obvious survival advantages with the other senses, for example: ’…in hunting, where efficacious looking, listening and even smelling for traces of prey could afford an advantage.’
Something for certain content strategists, perhaps, to keep in mind.
