A round Bouba is easier to remember than a curved Kiki: Sound-symbolism can support associative memory

Sonier, René-Pierre; Poirier, Marie; Guitard, Dominic; Saint‐Aubin, Jean

doi:10.3758/s13423-020-01733-8

Cited by 5 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…For all experiments, our sample size was based on a priori power estimates. We used the effect size of Sonier et al (2020) to guide our power analyses as our experiments were modeled after their. For Experiments 1, 3, and 4, we conducted an a priori bilateral paired-sample t -test power analysis with an α of .05, a power of .95, and the effect size of Sonier et al (2020; Cohen’s d = 0.461) with G*Power (Faul et al, 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This analysis suggested a sample size of 64 was needed. We decided to slightly overpower our design and selected 70 participants to match the sample size of Sonier et al (2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second issue with the findings of Sonier et al (2020) is more general—the delay between study and test in their experiment was minimal, that is, half a second. Hence, it is not clear that the pattern they reported would also be found with a delay typical of episodic memory tasks.…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Sonier et al (2020) examined the impact of an unusual type of prior knowledge on associative memory, namely sound-symbolism. Studies of sound-symbolism have suggested that some phonemes correspond to specific visual features (Köhler, 1929).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, close examination of the work of Sonier et al (2020) led us to identify two issues that need to be addressed to establish the robustness and generality of the reported findings. The first relates to the variability of the links between nonwords and shapes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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A curved honulo improves your short-term and long-term memory.

Saint‐Aubin¹,

Guitard²,

Poirier³

2022

Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne

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During his distinguished career, Bill Hockley contributed to memory research in many ways, with work characterized by rigorous and innovative experimental designs. One of the areas he has explored is that of memory for associative information. We echo this interest here and attempt to emulate his careful experimental attitude. We report four experiments which examined how previously established links can support the development of new episodic associations. More specifically, we tested the idea that soundsymbolism links can support learning of new associations. Sound-symbolism links are relationships between phonemes and object characteristics that participants find natural-even if they have never encountered the items before. For instance, the nonword "honulo" is more readily seen to refer to a shape with curved contours than to a shape that has sharp angles. In Experiment 1, 70 participants studied three pairs and their memory for the associations between the members of each pair was tested in a pairedrecognition task. Results demonstrate that sound-symbolism associations support the learning of new associations. Experiment 2 confirmed that the effect is replicated in a between-participants design. In Experiment 3, we replicated the findings with a 30-s filled interval between presentation and test, and in Experiment 4, we extended the delay to 2 min, establishing that the pattern is also found with a paradigm more typical of episodic memory. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of associative memory, while referring to some of the ideas Bill Hockley championed in his own work. Public Significance StatementTo remember the events of our lives, our brain needs to successfully link multiple event features together in a reasonably stable ensemble. As previously shown by William Hockley, the development of these links can benefit from prior knowledge. Here, we showed that the correspondence between phonemes and visual features can support learning of new associations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This analysis suggested a sample size of 64 was needed. We decided to slightly overpower our design and selected 70 participants to match the sample size of Sonier et al (2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 94%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A curved honulo improves your short-term and long-term memory.

Saint‐Aubin¹,

Guitard²,

Poirier³

2022

Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne

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Neural basis of sound-symbolic pseudoword-shape correspondences

et al. 2023

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Neural Basis Of Sound-Symbolic Pseudoword-Shape Correspondences

Barany

Lacey

Matthews

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Non-arbitrary mapping between the sound of a word and its meaning, termed sound symbolism, is commonly studied through correspondences between sounds and visual shapes, e.g., auditory pseudowords, like 'mohloh' and 'kehteh', are matched to rounded and pointed visual shapes, respectively. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural basis of the pseudoword-shape correspondence. During scanning, right-handed participants (n = 22) encountered audiovisual stimuli consisting of a simultaneously presented visual shape (rounded or pointed) and an auditory pseudoword ('mohloh' or 'kehteh') and indicated via a right-handed keypress whether the stimuli matched or not. Reaction times were faster for congruent than incongruent stimuli. On a univariate contrast between congruent and incongruent stimuli, activity was greater in the left primary auditory and somatosensory cortices, left anterior fusiform/parahippocampal and right mid-cingulate gyri, and caudate nuclei bilaterally for the congruent condition; and at left precentral, left supplementary motor and bilateral anterior insular cortical foci in the incongruent condition. Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed higher classification accuracy in the pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area), the left supramarginal gyrus, and the right mid-occipital gyrus for the audiovisual stimuli when bimodally congruent than when incongruent. Visual and auditory cortices robustly differentiated between the two visual/auditory stimuli, respectively, regardless of audiovisual congruency. Frontoparietal cortical regions distinguished congruent from incongruent stimulus pairs, independent of the visual or auditory features. Taken together, these findings indicate that sound-symbolic correspondences engage neural processes in sensory, motor, and language systems.

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A round Bouba is easier to remember than a curved Kiki: Sound-symbolism can support associative memory

Abstract: Past research has shown that prior knowledge can support our episodic memory for recently encountered associations. According to the model proposed by Cox and Criss (

Cited by 5 publications

References 22 publications

A curved honulo improves your short-term and long-term memory.

A curved honulo improves your short-term and long-term memory.

Neural basis of sound-symbolic pseudoword-shape correspondences

Neural Basis Of Sound-Symbolic Pseudoword-Shape Correspondences

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