Matching sounds to shapes: Evidence of the bouba-kiki effect in naïve baby chicks
Hacker News
February 21, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
New research reveals that baby chicks exhibit the bouba-kiki effect—a phenomenon where sounds like "kiki" are linked to spiky shapes and "bouba" to round ones—similar to how humans perceive these connections. This finding, published in *Nature*, challenges previous theories suggesting this sound-shape association is tied to language development. Instead, the study indicates that this cognitive ability may be a more fundamental, evolutionarily conserved trait.
The bouba-kiki effect has long been studied in humans across cultures, with researchers hypothesizing it might relate to how language evolves or is learned. However, experiments conducted by Loconsole et al. tested this phenomenon in newborn chickens, which are precocial and can be studied shortly after hatching. Both 1-day-old and 3-day-old chicks showed a clear preference for spiky shapes when hearing "kiki" and round shapes with "bouba," suggesting an innate mechanism that links sound characteristics to visual features.
This discovery implies that the ability to associate sounds with shapes may not be unique to humans or tied specifically to language. Instead, it appears to be a more general perceptual skill shared across species, hinting at deeper evolutionary roots. The study’s results challenge existing assumptions about the origins of sound-symbolism and open new avenues for exploring how sensory associations develop in different animals.
Understanding these underlying mechanisms could have implications for fields like robotics, AI, and human-computer interaction. If such associations are hardwired rather than learned, it suggests that machines might mimic this perceptual matching more effectively, enhancing communication systems or designing interfaces that align with natural sensory experiences.
Overall, this research offers fresh insights into the evolution of perception and communication, bridging gaps between biology, cognition, and technology. It underscores how studying non-human species can reveal universal principles about how we process information and interact with our environment.
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Originally published on Hacker News on 2/21/2026