In their study, Roza Kamiloglu and Disa Sauter, involving over 3,400 participants, they explored how people interpret nonverbal vocalisations like sighs and grunts. Through two pre-registered experiments, they found that listeners could accurately match these vocalisations to specific contexts, such as being tickled or encountering a threat.

In the first experiment, 3,120 participants matched 200 nonverbal sounds to one of 10 contexts with remarkable accuracy, using yes/no responses. The second experiment, involving 337 participants, required selecting from 10 response options in a forced-choice task. Results showed that people could categorise all 10 contexts at levels significantly above chance.

This research by Kamiloglu and Sauter not only highlights our innate ability to understand nonverbal cues but also suggests a deep-rooted connection between vocal sounds and their situational contexts. Their findings open new avenues in exploring the evolutionary aspects and functions of human vocal expressions, adding a vital dimension to our comprehension of nonverbal aspects of communication.