While the article doesn’t provide a conclusive explanation for this phenomenon, it does open the door for further research and exploration. By examining the neurological processes involved in speech production and perception, scientists may uncover the specific mechanisms that give rise to the in-out effect. Understanding these underlying processes could have broader implications for fields such as linguistics, psychology, and communication studies.
To dive deeper into the fascinating world of the in-out effect, we encourage you to read the full article!
We thank MacDonald and Weiss [1] for picking up our call for new explanations behind the articulatory in–out effect. This effect refers to people’s preference for words and letter strings with an inward-wandering sequence of articulation places (e.g., MADIKO: labial-coronal-dorsal) over those with an outward-wandering sequence of articulation places (e.g., KADIMO: dorsal-coronal-labial) [2]. As we elaborate in our forum article [3], the in–out effect is robust across languages and contexts and influences different judgments and decisions in social and consumer contexts.