John Carlos BaezFeb 22

THE BOUBA/KIKI EFFECT

Which of these shapes looks like the sound "bouba", and which looks like the sound "kiki"?

People of all cultures agree on this, and now it's been found that baby chicks do too:

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-bouba-kiki-effect-baby-chicks.html

It may seem weird that sounds should robustly match with shapes, but I think it follows from physics - and living as we do in the physical world, it pays for us to make these associations.

For more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect

Thanks to Alex at https://mathstodon.xyz/@WizardOfDocs@wandering.shop/116115329367345332 for pointing out the news about baby chicks!

Show threadTony VladusichFeb 22

@johncarlosbaez

I’m calling BS on this one, even without reading the paper.

If you want to know why, search Google for Clever Hans.

I spent my PhD years studying honeybee behaviour. Animal experiments are very often biased by the human experimenter in unconscious ways.

It just seems too far fetched for me: An cognitive effect in humans innately manifest in baby chicks? I doubt it.

Having said all that, I should read the paper and try to pinpoint specific weaknesses. But I’m busy and lazy.

Show threadJohn Carlos BaezFeb 22

@TonyVladusich - it's not supposed to be a linguistic effect, but rather a sonic effect: a correlation between sounds and shapes. We certainly know what sounds "wet" and animals should too. We also know what sounds "raspy and sharp", and what sounds "bouncy and rounded".

But yes: a skeptic should carefully study and question these findings with a careful comb.

Show threadTony VladusichFeb 22

@johncarlosbaez

How is that not linguistic? Sounds and shapes are cognitive constructs not physical ones!

Show threadJohn Carlos BaezFeb 23

@TonyVladusich - They are cognitive constructs, yes, but not necessarily linguistic. Animals have associations to sounds and shapes without having language. They *need* to have some such associations to survive - e.g. hearing dripping sounds, they think of water.

The correlations between sound and shape ultimately arises from physics: e.g., liquids make dripping sounds, pounding on a rounded elastic suface tends to make a "bouba" type sound, etc.

@maxpool

Show threadTony Vladusich

@johncarlosbaez @maxpool

My point is that sounds and shapes are cognitive constructs. Whether a chicken brain has evolved to create such constructs and associate them is the question at hand.

I say it's unlikely for the reasons given, and probably for many other reasons (you've pointed out one with the difference between the human mouth and chicken beak).

The problem is that we are taking as given the very constructs that require explanation. This is why psychology has been such an utter failure as a field; namely, the failure to clear delineate the physical from the perceptual and to identify the mapping form one to another (hint: there is none in the sense of a mathematical homomorphism).

This is the problem I tackle in my book, btw.

Feb 23 at 12:39amWeb