Five Specific Tongue Movements in a Healthy Population.
Kilian D R Kappert, Simone van Dijk, David Wellenstein and 4 others
PMID 33040201WHAT IT FOUND
Most healthy adults can roll their tongue (83.7%), but few can make a cloverleaf (14.7%).
People accurately judge these two abilities. However, they frequently overestimate their capacity to fold or twist the tongue. This suggests rolling and cloverleaf are reliable self-reported measures, unlike folding or twisting.
Key findings
01Tongue rolling is the most common ability (83.7%), while the cloverleaf is the rarest (14.7%).
02Participants were most accurate in judging their ability to roll the tongue and perform a cloverleaf, with low misjudgment rates.
03Nearly half of participants believed they could fold or twist their tongue, but actual performance was significantly lower, indicating high overestimation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample consisted entirely of employees at a cancer institute, which may not represent the general population. Assessment relied on static images rather than video instructions, which might affect performance. Judging complex movements like folding can be subjective, though inter-rater agreement was checked. The study did not include patients with oral cancer, so it describes healthy norms rather than clinical outcomes.
Declared interests
Funded by the University of Twente. No other conflicts declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that a patient's reported ability to fold or twist their tongue reflects their actual mobility. These self-reports are highly unreliable. Only tongue rolling and cloverleaf abilities were judged accurately by participants in this healthy population.