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Help us explore how literature sparks sensory experience and immerses readers in worlds of sound, sight, touch, taste, and feeling.
Learn moreYou may choose between three tasks:
Imageability – How strongly does a sentence create a sensory impression? A quick one-step task.
Concreteness – How strongly does the sentence describe something you can see, touch, or feel? A quick, one-step task.
Senses – Which senses does the sentence bring to life? This one is a survey format.
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Message from the researcher
"It's only when knowledge about something slowly spreads to the whole body that you truly know." - Marlen Haushofer, author of The Wall
The Senses of StoriesAbout The Senses of Stories
Stories can be more than words on a page – they can evoke images, sounds, textures, tastes, and even bodily sensations. In this project, we are investigating how sentences from literature engage readers’ senses and create immersive experiences. You'll be asked to identify sentences with greater or lesser sensory content along with the specific types of senses that are most strongly invoked.
This project is part of an international collaboration between Canadian and European universities led by McGill University. By contributing your insights, you’ll help our researchers uncover how writers use sensory language to create immersive experiences. Together, we can map the textures of literary style — how words make us see, hear, and feel — and open new ways of understanding the embodied power of storytelling.