Bouba-kiki effect
Bouba/Kiki Effect
The bouba/kiki effect or kiki/bouba effect is a phenomenon of crossmodal correspondence between sounds and shapes. It is a tendency in associating the nonsense words "bouba" with a round shape and "kiki" with a spiky shape in systematic ways. Explanations of the bouba/kiki effect are typically described through iconic cross-sensory mechanisms. These mechanisms imply that the effect arises from a process where the properties inherent in the sound form of nonsense words or their motor articulations are directly matched to the properties of the abstract shapes. The bouba/kiki effect is a form of sound symbolism and considered as a universal sound-shape correspondence.
History
The bouba/kiki effect was initially observed by Georgian psychologist Dimitri Uznadze in 1924 and was later referenced by German American psychologist Wolfgang Köhler in a 1929 experiment[1][2]. Köhler demonstrated the effect with the words "baluba" and "takete", which were subsequently changed to "maluma" and "takete." Köhler's findings indicate a strong preference for associating "maluma" with a rounded shape, while "takete" with a jagged shape [3]. This phenomenon then was further explored by Werner.
In 2001, Ramachandran and Hubbard brought widespread attention to the phenomenon through their experiment using the words "bouba" and "kiki." They suggested that the bouba/kiki effect and other similar phenomena could offer important insights into the origins of language, as it implies that there may be natural constraints on the ways in which sounds are mapped on to objects [4].
Research
A research in 2021 [5] experimenting the phenomenon in 25 languages, representing nine language families and 10 writing systems, shows that there are strong consistent effect of the phenomenon across the languages.
References
- ↑ Usnadze, Dimitri. "Ein experimenteller Beitrag zum Problem der psychologischen Grundlagen der Namengebung." Psychologische Forschung 5 (1924): 24-43.
- ↑ Köhler, Wolfgang (1929). Gestalt Psychology. New York: Liveright.
- ↑ Köhler, Wolfgang (1929). Gestalt Psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Liveright.
- ↑ Ramachandran, Vilayanur S., and Edward M. Hubbard. "Synaesthesia--a window into perception, thought and language." Journal of consciousness studies 8.12 (2001): 3-34.
- ↑ Ćwiek, Aleksandra, et al. "The bouba/kiki effect is robust across cultures and writing systems." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 377.1841 (2022): 20200390.
