Newborn Chicks Connect Sounds With Shapes Just Like Humans, Study Finds

Source: Slashdot

The Bouba‑Kiki Effect and Its Origins

Why does “bouba” sound round and “kiki” sound spiky? This intuition that ties certain sounds to shapes is oddly reliable across cultures, and for at least a century scientists have considered it a clue to the origin of language. They have theorized that our ancestors may have built their first words upon these instinctive associations between sound and meaning.

Testing the Effect in Newborn Chicks

Maria Loconsole, a comparative psychologist at the University of Padua in Italy, and her colleagues investigated the bouba‑kiki effect in baby chicks because the birds could be tested almost immediately after hatching, before any exposure to the world could shape their perceptions. The researchers placed chicks in front of two panels: one featuring a flower‑like shape with gently rounded curves, and the other a spiky blotch reminiscent of a cartoon explosion. Recordings of humans saying either “bouba” or “kiki” were played while the birds’ behavior was observed.

When the chicks heard “bouba,” about 80 % approached the round shape first and spent an average of more than three minutes exploring it, compared with just under one minute spent on the spiky shape. The preferences reversed when the chicks heard “kiki.”

Evolutionary Implications

Because the tests took place within the chicks’ first hours of life outside their eggshell, the association between particular sounds and shapes could not have been learned from experience. This suggests an innate perceptual bias that may extend far deeper into our evolutionary history than previously believed. “We split from the avian evolutionary line 300 million years ago,” notes Aleksandra Cwiek, a linguist at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru, Poland, who was not involved in the study. “It’s just mind‑blowing.”

References

• Slashdot (original story)