Word Beauty Shapes Memory

A controlled experiment with invented English‑like pseudowords shows that phonetic appeal (what people intuitively judge 'beautiful' or 'ugly') reliably affects how well listeners remember those words. The finding links phonology to cognitive processing, with downstream consequences for brand naming, foreign‑language pedagogy, and how lexical aesthetics steer language change. — If sound aesthetics influence memory and preference, advertisers, educators, and platform designers should treat phonetic form as a policy‑relevant signal—affecting persuasion, learning outcomes, and cultural reputations of languages.