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This study investigates the cognitive phenomenon known as the bouba-kiki effect among English Language Teaching (ELT) students at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in Turkey. The research aims to contribute to understanding how individuals intuitively associate specific sounds with abstract shapes, shedding light on the underlying cognitive processes of language perception. Participants (N=164) were presented with two abstract shapes and asked to match them with the pseudowords ‘bouba’ and ‘kiki’. Results revealed a significant preference (87.2%) associating the rounded shape with ‘bouba’ and the spiky shape with ‘kiki’. Additionally, participants were tasked with creating brand designs for ‘Kiki’ and ‘Bouba’, with 87.2% aligning their designs with their initial shape associations. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and a chi-square test, confirming a strong association between shape preferences and pseudoword assignment (χ²=132.05, p < .001). These findings underscore the robustness of the bouba-kiki effect across different cultural and linguistic contexts. This research contributes to interdisciplinary studies linking linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience, offering implications for language teaching methodologies and cognitive processing theories. By elucidating these associations, educators can enhance language learning strategies based on intuitive perceptual mechanisms. Disclosure Statement The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest. * Corresponding author: Süleyman Kasap, 0000-0001-8367-8789suleymankasap@yyu.edu.tr

This study investigates the cognitive phenomenon known as the bouba-kiki effect among English Language Teaching (ELT) students at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in Turkey. The research aims to contribute to understanding how individuals intuitively associate specific sounds with abstract shapes, shedding light on the underlying cognitive processes of language perception. Participants (N=164) were presented with two abstract shapes and asked to match them with the pseudowords 'bouba' and 'kiki'. Results revealed a significant preference (87.2%) associating the rounded shape with 'bouba' and the spiky shape with 'kiki'. Additionally, participants were tasked with creating brand designs for 'Kiki' and 'Bouba', with 87.2% aligning their designs with their initial shape associations. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and a chi-square test, confirming a strong association between shape preferences and pseudoword assignment (χ²=132.05, p < .001). These findings underscore the robustness of the bouba-kiki effect across different cultural and linguistic contexts. This research contributes to interdisciplinary studies linking linguistics, psychology, and neuroscience, offering implications for language teaching methodologies and cognitive processing theories. By elucidating these associations, educators can enhance language learning strategies based on intuitive perceptual mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the findings of a study investigating the impact of shape on the taste perception of chocolate. Previous research has explored the influence of various sensory information on taste perception, but there has been little focus on the effect of food shape being eaten on taste perception. To explore this, we focused on the Bouba-Kiki effect, illustrating an interaction between shape and several modalities, and investigated the effect of Bouba- and Kiki-shaped (rounded and angular) foods eaten on taste perception. We utilized a 3D food printer to produce four different shapes of chocolate pieces based on the Bouba-Kiki. Participants tasted each piece and completed a chocolate flavor questionnaire. With Bayesian analysis, we determined that the Bouba-shaped chocolate pieces were perceived as sweeter than the Kiki-shaped ones, supporting earlier studies on crossmodal correspondences between shape and taste perception. However, there were no significant differences in ratings of other tastes, such as sourness and bitterness. Our research indicates that shape can affect taste perception during consumption and suggests that 3D food printers offer an opportunity to design specific shapes that influence taste experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Crossmodal correspondences refer to when specific domains of features in different sensory modalities are mapped. We investigated how vowels and lexical tones drive sound–shape (rounded or angular) and sound–size (large or small) mappings among native Mandarin Chinese speakers. We used three vowels (/i/, /u/, and /a/), and each vowel was articulated in four lexical tones. In the sound–shape matching, the tendency to match the rounded shape was decreased in the following order: /u/, /i/, and /a/. Tone 2 was more likely to be matched to the rounded pattern, whereas Tone 4 was more likely to be matched to the angular pattern. In the sound–size matching, /a/ was matched to the larger object more than /u/ and /i/, and Tone 2 and Tone 4 correspond to the large–small contrast. The results demonstrated that both vowels and tones play prominent roles in crossmodal correspondences, and sound–shape and sound–size mappings are heterogeneous phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crossmodal correspondences refer to the fact that certain domains of features in different sensory modalities are associated with each other. Here, we investigated the crossmodal correspondences between speech sounds and visual shapes. Specifically, we tested whether the classification dimensions of English vowels (front–central–back) and consonants (voiced–voiceless, sonorant–obstruent, and stop–continuant) correspond to visual shapes along a bipolar rounded–angular dimension. We adapted eighteen meaningless pseudowords from a previous study that corresponded to either the round or the sharp concept. On each trial, the participants heard one of the pseudowords and saw a rounded shape and an angular shape presented side-by-side on the monitor. Participants judged which shape provided a better match to the spoken pseudoword. A logistic regression was conducted in order to elucidate the effectiveness of classification dimensions of phonemes when predicting variations in the sound–shape matchings. The results demonstrated that the sound–shape matchings were predictable using front–central–back dimensions of vowels, and voiced–voiceless and stop–continuant dimensions of consonants. Hence, we verified that sound–shape matching is underpinned by contrasting dimensions in both vowels and consonants, therefore demonstrating crossmodal correspondences at the phonetic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sound to meaning correspondences in spoken language areassumed to be largely arbitrary. However, research hasidentified a number of exceptions to the arbitrarinessassumption. In particular, non-arbitrary mappings betweensound and shape, the bouba/kiki effect, have beendocumented across diverse languages and both children andadults are sensitive to this type of sound symbolic mapping.The cognitive basis for the associations between nonwordlabels and particular shapes remains poorly understoodmaking it difficult to predict how findings generalize beyondthe limited stimuli tested. To identify systematic bases forsound-to-shape mappings, we collected ratings ofroundedness and pointedness for a large database ofpseudowords. We find that attributes of both consonants andvowels are systematically related to judged shape meaningsof pseudowords, and offer hypotheses as to the cognitivemechanisms underlying the observed patterns

Sound symbolism is a non‐arbitrary correspondence between sound and meaning. The majority of studies on sound symbolism have focused on consonants and vowels, and the sound‐symbolic properties of suprasegmentals, particularly phonation types, have been largely neglected. This study examines the size and shape symbolism of four phonation types: modal and creaky voices, falsetto, and whisper. Japanese speakers heard 12 novel words (e.g., /íbi/, /ápa/) pronounced with the four types of phonation and rated the size and roundedness/pointedness each of the 48 stimuli seemed to represent on seven‐point scales. The results showed that phonation types as well as consonantal and vocalic features influenced the ratings. Creaky voice was associated with larger and more pointed images than modal voice, which was in turn associated with larger and more pointed images than whisper. Falsetto was also associated with roundedness but not with smallness. These results shed new light on the acoustic approaches to sound symbolism and suggest the significance of phonation types and other suprasegmental features in the phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cross-modal correspondence is the tendency to systematically map stimulus features across sensory modalities. The current study explored cross-modal correspondence between speech sound and shape (Experiment 1), and whether such association can influence shape representation (Experiment 2). For the purpose of closely examining the role of the two factors — articulation and pitch — combined in speech acoustics, we generated two sets of 25 vowel stimuli — pitch-varying and pitch-constant sets. Both sets were generated by manipulating articulation — frontness and height of the tongue body's positions — but differed in terms of whether pitch varied among the sounds within the same set. In Experiment 1, participants made a forced choice between a round and a spiky shape to indicate the shape better associated with each sound. Results showed that shape choice was modulated according to both articulation and pitch, and we therefore concluded that both factors play significant roles in sound–shape correspondence. In Experiment 2, participants reported their subjective experience of shape accompanied by vowel sounds by adjusting an ambiguous shape in the response display. We found that sound–shape correspondence exerts an effect on shape representation by modulating audiovisual interaction, but only in the case of pitch-varying sounds. Therefore, pitch information within vowel acoustics plays the leading role in sound–shape correspondence influencing shape representation. Taken together, our results suggest the importance of teasing apart the roles of articulation and pitch for understanding sound–shape correspondence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior investigations have demonstrated that people tend to link pseudowords such as bouba to rounded shapes and kiki to spiky shapes, but the cognitive processes underlying this matching bias have remained controversial. Here, we present three experiments underscoring the fundamental role of emotional mediation in this sound–shape mapping. Using stimuli from key previous studies, we found that kiki -like pseudowords and spiky shapes, compared with bouba -like pseudowords and rounded shapes, consistently elicit higher levels of affective arousal, which we assessed through both subjective ratings (Experiment 1, N = 52) and acoustic models implemented on the basis of pseudoword material (Experiment 2, N = 70). Crucially, the mediating effect of arousal generalizes to novel pseudowords (Experiment 3, N = 64, which was preregistered). These findings highlight the role that human emotion may play in language development and evolution by grounding associations between abstract concepts (e.g., shapes) and linguistic signs (e.g., words) in the affective system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate whether or not the so-called "bouba-kiki" effect is mediated by speech-specific representations. Sine-wave versions of naturally produced pseudowords were used as auditory stimuli in an implicit association task (IAT) and an explicit cross-modal matching (CMM) task to examine cross-modal shape-sound correspondences. A group of participants trained to hear the sine-wave stimuli as speech was compared to a group that heard them as non-speech sounds. Sound-shape correspondence effects were observed in both groups and tasks, indicating that speech-specific processing is not fundamental to the "bouba-kiki" phenomenon. Effects were similar across groups in the IAT, while in the CMM task the speech-mode group showed a stronger effect compared with the non-speech group. This indicates that, while both tasks reflect auditory-visual associations, only the CMM task is additionally sensitive to associations involving speech-specific representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People have been shown to link particular sounds with particular shapes. For instance, the round-sounding nonword bouba tends to be associated with curved shapes, whereas the sharp-sounding nonword kiki is deemed to be related to angular shapes. People's tendency to associate sounds and shapes has been observed across different languages. In the present study, we reexamined the claim by Hung, Styles, and Hsieh (2017) that such sound–shape mappings can occur before an individual becomes aware of the visual stimuli. More precisely, we replicated their first experiment, in which congruent and incongruent stimuli (e.g., bouba presented in a round shape or an angular shape, respectively) were rendered invisible through continuous flash suppression. The results showed that congruent combinations, on average, broke suppression faster than incongruent combinations, thus providing converging evidence for Hung and colleagues' assertions. Collectively, these findings now provide a solid basis from which to explore the boundary conditions of the effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wealth of research demonstrates that certain language sounds seem to go better with certain kinds of targets (i.e., sound-symbolic associations). The most well-known example is the maluma-takete effect, in which nonwords such as maluma are judged as good matches for round shapes, whereas nonwords such as takete are judged as good matches for sharp shapes. Most of this research involves nonwords, but recent work has shown that sound symbolism has implications for real first names. On the basis of a name's sound, individuals tend to pair the name with particular shapes and indicate that they prefer people with congruent pairings of name sound and face shape. Individuals also associate different kinds of personalities with given names on the basis of the sounds the names contain. Thus, sound symbolism is not limited to nonwords and can emerge even with words that have existing associations. Sound-symbolic associations may also occur with more abstract properties (e.g., personality traits). Thus, this work provides insight about mechanisms underlying sound-symbolic association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Unlike adults, young children prioritize different shape features to match to sounds. • Young children can resemble adults if relevant shape features are highlighted. • Experimental design context can alter sound-shape sensitivity early in development. • Changing local/global biases can alter sound-shape sensitivity early in development. Abstract Crossmodal sound–shape correspondence, the association of abstract shapes and nonsense words (e.g., "bouba-kiki" effect), is seen across cultures and languages. Recent research suggests that the sensitivity for such sound–shape pairings might increase with development. Here we examined one possible mechanism underlying developmental changes in sensitivity to sound–shape correspondences—if and how shape features, such as contour spikiness and the number and size of protrusions, might be weighted differently by children and adults. In Experiment 1, we asked participants to choose which of two nonsense words matched a given visual shape while manipulating contour spikiness and number and size of protrusions independently. We found that adults associated /i/ sounds with shapes having spiky contours and 3 small protrusions. Of these shape features, contour spikiness showed the strongest association. Whereas 9- to 11-year-olds showed adult-like responses, 6- to 8-year-olds prioritized protrusion number, not contour spikiness. Importantly, in Experiment 2, where contour spikiness was highlighted by presenting round and spikey shapes side by side, 6- to 8-year-olds could make associations based on contour spikiness. Our findings suggest that 6- to 8-year-olds prioritize different features of a shape when making sound–shape correspondence compared with adults. Interestingly, these shape-processing biases can be altered by context such that children can resemble adults when the relevant shape features are highlighted. Our results suggest that biases in visual shape processing and the ability to extract contextual information might be additional factors explaining developmental changes in sensitivity toward sound–shape correspondences. These changing developmental biases highlight the contribution of perceptual processing styles in crossmodal correspondence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonarbitrary mappings between sound and shape (i.e., the bouba-kiki effect) have been shown across different cultures and early in development; however, the level of processing at which this effect arises remains unclear. Here we show that the mapping occurs prior to conscious awareness of the visual stimuli. Under continuous flash suppression, congruent stimuli (e.g., "kiki" inside an angular shape) broke through to conscious awareness faster than incongruent stimuli. This was true even when we trained people to pair unfamiliar letters with auditory word forms, a result showing that the effect was driven by the phonology, not the visual features, of the letters. Furthermore, visibility thresholds of the shapes decreased when they were preceded by a congruent auditory word form in a masking paradigm. Taken together, our results suggest that sound-shape mapping can occur automatically prior to conscious awareness of visual shapes, and that sensory congruence facilitates conscious awareness of a stimulus being present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the findings of a study investigating the impact of shape on the taste perception of chocolate. Previous research has explored the influence of various sensory information on taste perception, but there has been little focus on the effect of food shape being eaten on taste perception. To explore this, we focused on the Bouba-Kiki effect, illustrating an interaction between shape and several modalities, and investigated the effect of Bouba- and Kiki-shaped (rounded and angular) foods eaten on taste perception. We utilized a 3D food printer to produce four different shapes of chocolate pieces based on the Bouba-Kiki. Participants tasted each piece and completed a chocolate flavor questionnaire. With Bayesian analysis, we determined that the Bouba-shaped chocolate pieces were perceived as sweeter than the Kiki-shaped ones, supporting earlier studies on crossmodal correspondences between shape and taste perception. However, there were no significant differences in ratings of other tastes, such as sourness and bitterness. Our research indicates that shape can affect taste perception during consumption and suggests that 3D food printers offer an opportunity to design specific shapes that influence taste experiences., Competing Interests: KO, RG, AH, YU, and SY were employed by OMRON SINIC X Corporation., (Copyright © 2023 Ogata, Gakumi, Hashimoto, Ushiku and Yoshida.)

Adult listeners systematically associate certain speech sounds with round or spiky shapes, a sound-symbolic phenomenon known as the “bouba-kiki effect.” In this study, we investigate the respective influences of consonants and vowels in this phenomenon. French participants were asked to match auditorily presented pseudowords with one of two visually presented shapes, one round and one spiky. The pseudowords were created by crossing either two consonant pairs with a wide range of vowels (experiment 1 and 2) or two vowel pairs with a wide range of consonants (experiment 3). Analyses showed that consonants have a greater influence than vowels in the bouba-kiki effect. Importantly, this asymmetry cannot be due to an onset bias, as a strong consonantal influence is found both with CVCV (experiment 1) and VCV (experiment 2) stimuli. We discuss these results in terms of the differential role of consonants and vowels in speech perception. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Nonarbitrary mappings between sound and shape (i.e., the bouba-kiki effect) have been shown across different cultures and early in development; however, the level of processing at which this effect arises remains unclear. Here we show that the mapping occurs prior to conscious awareness of the visual stimuli. Under continuous flash suppression, congruent stimuli (e.g., "kiki" inside an angular shape) broke through to conscious awareness faster than incongruent stimuli. This was true even when we trained people to pair unfamiliar letters with auditory word forms, a result showing that the effect was driven by the phonology, not the visual features, of the letters. Furthermore, visibility thresholds of the shapes decreased when they were preceded by a congruent auditory word form in a masking paradigm. Taken together, our results suggest that sound-shape mapping can occur automatically prior to conscious awareness of visual shapes, and that sensory congruence facilitates conscious awareness of a stimulus being present.