Does a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you ... fileDoes a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or...

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Does a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you? Crossmodal Correspondence Across Development Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow, Daniel A. Harris and Vivian M. Ciaramitaro Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA We experience our everyday life with inputs from multiple sense. Sound/shape cor- respondence, our tendency to associate shapes (e.g. spikey vs round) with certain nonsense sounds (e.g. ‘kiki’ vs ‘baba’) could be a building block for word learning. This association has been found ubiquitously, regardless of language or cultural dif- ferences, yet has not been investigated across development. Here we examine how sound/shape correspondence develops. We predicted the strength of crossmodal associations would increase as a function of early development and decline in older adults. Our results suggest “baba” or “gaga” are strongly associated with round shapes, and “kiki” or “titi” with spikey shapes in younger adults (age 18-38). Similar associations were present, but weaker in chidlren (3-17) and older adults (above 38). Reaction times were on average faster when spikey shapes were chosen when presented with either “kiki” or “titi” sounds. The same trends were found in the complementary conditions of judging which shapes matches, given a sound, and judging which sound matches given a shape. Although we have adequate sample sizes for data in young adults and children, more data is currently being collected in older adults in order to access how the strength of sound/shape associations changes over the course of development. Our data is being collected at the Living Laboratory, Museum of Science Boston, in simple short experiments, specially designed to be engaging for young children. INTRODUCTION METHODS RESULTS CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES Procedure Stimuli Visual Stimuli Auditory Stimuli Judging Sound (64 Trials) Judging Shape (64 Trials) Analysis Judging Sound Judging Shape + + + /baba/ + /baba/ /Kiki/ Time Time Across trials we varied visual stimulus color, spikiness/roundedness as well as the auditory stimulus. /Kiki/ /Titi/ /Baba/ /Gaga/ Quantifying Choice for Judge Shape: We calculated the proportion of trials round shapes were chosen over spikey shapes for a given sound. Quantifying Choice for Judge Sound: We calculated the proportion of trials sounds such as “baba” and “gaga” were chosen over “kiki” and “titi” for a given shape. Quantifying Reaction Time: We calculated reaction time for choices made within the response window of 6 seconds allowed for making a judgement. 4 visual srtimulus pairs 4 auditory stimuli 16 visual-auditory pairs 4 repeats of each pair Total of 64 trials Feedback: 1 sec. Response 6 sec. Stimulus 1 sec. Feedback 1 sec. Response 6 sec. Stimulus 1 sec. Stimulus 1 sec. -0.5 -0.25 0 0.25 0.5 baba gaga RT(spikey)-RT(round) (sec) 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 baba gaga kiki 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 No Association Younger Adults (N= 43) Older Adults (N=33) Children (N=42) Proportion of choosing round shape over spikey shape Proportion of choosing ‘baba’/’gaga’ over ‘kiki’/’titi’ sound Younger Adults (N= 43) Children (N=41) kiki No Association -1 0 0.5 1 -.05 Adults (N= 43) Children (N=41) Reaction Time of choosing spikey vs. round shape Younger Adults (N= 43) Older Adults (N=33) Children (N=42) No Association Reaction Time of choosing‘baba’/’gaga’ over ‘kiki’/’titi’ sound No Association Asano, M., Imai, M., Kita, S., Kitajo, K., Okada, H. & Thierry, G. (2015) Sound symbolism scaffolds language development in preverbal infants. Cortex. 63, 196-205. Fryer, L., Freeman, J. & Pring, L. (2014) Touching words is not enough: How visual experience influences haptic-auditory associations in the Bouba-Kiki effect. Cognition, 132, 164-173. Maurer, D., Pathman, T. & Mondloch, C.J. (2006) The shape of boubas: sound-shape correspondences in toddlers and adults. Developmental Science, 316-322. Ozturk, O., Krehm, M. & Voiloumanos, A. (2013) Sound symbolism in infancy: Evidence for sound-shape cross-modal correspondence in 4 month olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 114, 173-186.

Transcript of Does a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you ... fileDoes a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or...

Page 1: Does a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you ... fileDoes a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you? Crossmodal Correspondence Across Development Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow,

Does a ‘kiki’ sound look spikey or round to you?Crossmodal Correspondence Across Development

Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow, Daniel A. Harris and Vivian M. Ciaramitaro Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA

We experience our everyday life with inputs from multiple sense. Sound/shape cor-respondence, our tendency to associate shapes (e.g. spikey vs round) with certain nonsense sounds (e.g. ‘kiki’ vs ‘baba’) could be a building block for word learning. This association has been found ubiquitously, regardless of language or cultural dif-ferences, yet has not been investigated across development. Here we examine how sound/shape correspondence develops.

We predicted the strength of crossmodal associations would increase as a function of early development and decline in older adults.

Our results suggest “baba” or “gaga” are strongly associated with round shapes, and “kiki” or “titi” with spikey shapes in younger adults (age 18-38). Similar associations were present, but weaker in chidlren (3-17) and older adults (above 38). Reaction times were on average faster when spikey shapes were chosen when presented with either “kiki” or “titi” sounds. The same trends were found in the complementary conditions of judging which shapes matches, given a sound, and judging which sound matches given a shape.

Although we have adequate sample sizes for data in young adults and children, more data is currently being collected in older adults in order to access how the strength of sound/shape associations changes over the course of development. Our data is being collected at the Living Laboratory, Museum of Science Boston, in simple short experiments, specially designed to be engaging for young children.

INTRODUCTION

METHODS

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES

Procedure

StimuliVisual Stimuli

Auditory Stimuli

Judging Sound (64 Trials)Judging Shape (64 Trials)

Analysis

Judging SoundJudging Shape

+

+

+

/baba/

+

/baba/

/Kiki/

Time

Time

Across trials we varied visual stimulus color, spikiness/roundedness as well as the auditory stimulus.

/Kiki/

/Titi/

/Baba/

/Gaga/

Quantifying Choice for Judge Shape: We calculated the proportion of trials round shapes were chosen over spikey shapes for a given sound. Quantifying Choice for Judge Sound: We calculated the proportion of trials sounds such as “baba” and “gaga” were chosen over “kiki” and “titi” for a given shape. Quantifying Reaction Time: We calculated reaction time for choices made within the response window of 6 seconds allowed for making a judgement.

4 visual srtimulus pairs4 auditory stimuli16 visual-auditory pairs4 repeats of each pairTotal of 64 trials

Feedback:1 sec.

Response 6 sec.

Stimulus 1 sec.

Feedback 1 sec.

Response 6 sec.

Stimulus 1 sec.

Stimulus 1 sec.

-0.5

-0.25

0

0.25

0.5

baba gaga

RT(

spik

ey)-

RT(

rou

nd

)(s

ec)

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

baba gaga kiki titi

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

0.80.8

1

No Association

Younger Adults (N= 43)Older Adults (N=33)Children (N=42)

Proportion of choosing round shape over spikey shape Proportion of choosing ‘baba’/’gaga’ over ‘kiki’/’titi’ sound Younger Adults (N= 43)Children (N=41)

kiki titi

No Association

-1

0

0.5

1

-.05

Adults (N= 43)Children (N=41)

Reaction Time of choosing spikey vs. round shape

Younger Adults (N= 43)Older Adults (N=33)Children (N=42)

No Association

Reaction Time of choosing‘baba’/’gaga’ over ‘kiki’/’titi’ sound

No Association

Asano, M., Imai, M., Kita, S., Kitajo, K., Okada, H. & Thierry, G. (2015) Sound symbolism sca�olds language development in preverbal infants. Cortex. 63, 196-205. Fryer, L., Freeman, J. & Pring, L. (2014) Touching words is not enough: How visual experience in�uences haptic-auditory associations in the Bouba-Kiki e�ect. Cognition, 132, 164-173. Maurer, D., Pathman, T. & Mondloch, C.J. (2006) The shape of boubas: sound-shape correspondences in toddlers and adults. Developmental Science, 316-322.Ozturk, O., Krehm, M. & Voiloumanos, A. (2013) Sound symbolism in infancy: Evidence for sound-shape cross-modal correspondence in 4 month olds. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 114, 173-186.