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Bouba/kiki effect

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71–80 of 176 posts

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#71
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That bus example is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen. Spoiler follows: The solution is supposedly that in countries where you drive on the right-hand side of the road, children immediately deduce that the bus is traveling to the left. This seems nonsensical to me because it's not even clear the bus is on a road, or it it is, that it's on the far side of the road. As far as I can tell, the bus is in a dirt fie…

The rationale they provide is that you can't see the door to the bus. So we are looking at the driver's side of the bus. Ignore "Which was is the bus going?" and instead ask "Which side is the front of the bus?" And, knowing that we are looking at the driver's side because of the absence of doors, the answer depends on which side of the road the bus is designed to be driven on.

Oh is that supposed to be the rationale?

I mean I can't even tell. Because no bus looks the way the bus in the image looks.

I've never in my life seen a bus where the windshield was the same size and shape as the back window. Never in my life seen a bus that didn't have brake lights or turn signals. And so forth.

In other words, there are so many things wrong with the "bus" that I don't know why you'd assume that if the "artist" had drawn it from the other side they would have bothered to include a door.

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#72
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale they provide is that you can't see the door to the bus. So we are looking at the driver's side of the bus. Ignore "Which was is the bus going?" and instead ask "Which side is the front of the bus?" And, knowing that we are looking at the driver's side because of the absence of doors, the answer depends on which side of the road the bus is designed to be driven on.

Oh is that supposed to be the rationale? I mean I can't even tell. Because no bus looks the way the bus in the image looks. I've never in my life seen a bus where the windshield was the same size and shape as the back window. Never in my life seen a bus that didn't have brake lights or turn signals. And so forth. In other words, there are so many things wrong with the "bus" that I don't know why you'd assume that if…

Indeed, my assumption was that this was some simplified drawing of a bus that didn't have doors in the first place

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#74
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale they provide is that you can't see the door to the bus. So we are looking at the driver's side of the bus. Ignore "Which was is the bus going?" and instead ask "Which side is the front of the bus?" And, knowing that we are looking at the driver's side because of the absence of doors, the answer depends on which side of the road the bus is designed to be driven on.

Oh is that supposed to be the rationale? I mean I can't even tell. Because no bus looks the way the bus in the image looks. I've never in my life seen a bus where the windshield was the same size and shape as the back window. Never in my life seen a bus that didn't have brake lights or turn signals. And so forth. In other words, there are so many things wrong with the "bus" that I don't know why you'd assume that if…

I think you've just confirmed the post's point about overanalysis. This type of thinking is exactly why adults get it right less often than children.

Kids immediately recognize the view must be from the driver's side of the bus because they're not examining the situation. They're taking the first piece of relevant information and rolling with it. No door means passengers get on the other side, so it's going whatever way you assume traffic across the street should go based on where you live.

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#75

Fifteen years ago I went to a museum exhibit on Reggio Emilia teaching methods that I still think about once a week or so. (Reggio Emilia is similar to Montessori in that it is child-led exploration but different in that encourages multiple cross-modal forms of expression to aid comprehension.) The Reggio Emilia exhibit featured children performing a cross-modal exercise of drawing the sounds of various types of shoe…

I wonder if the ability diminishes in adults, or if adults are more inhibited and worried about looking foolish. Try the same experiment with adults after drinking alcohol!

I think that’s it - they know they don’t know the ‘right’ way to draw sound, so instead of just doing whataver occurs to them, they wait, for fear of doing it ‘wrong.’

The concept that the only ‘wrong’ thing to do is to do nothing is a real important thing to internalize as an adult - not always where professional work is concerned, but nearly always where artistic pursuits are concerned. You’re doing it ‘right’ if you’re doing it.

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#76
post #28

I always thought Bouba/Kiki would make cool "matching" tattoos. Strangely, everyone I've asked says they would want to be Bouba. No one wants to be Kiki.

It's funny to me that my gut reaction was, "Oh. Why do they want that? Bouba would be such a weird tattoo compared to kiki."

I don't have tattoos. I don't really want them (I appreciate the artistry of them, but I can't stand seeing things on my skin). I don't know why I should care, never mind care the opposite way of most people.

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#79
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh is that supposed to be the rationale? I mean I can't even tell. Because no bus looks the way the bus in the image looks. I've never in my life seen a bus where the windshield was the same size and shape as the back window. Never in my life seen a bus that didn't have brake lights or turn signals. And so forth. In other words, there are so many things wrong with the "bus" that I don't know why you'd assume that if…

I think you've just confirmed the post's point about overanalysis. This type of thinking is exactly why adults get it right less often than children. Kids immediately recognize the view must be from the driver's side of the bus because they're not examining the situation. They're taking the first piece of relevant information and rolling with it. No door means passengers get on the other side, so it's going whatever…

But there is a difference in the picture. You'd also determine that it's going left when looking at the windshields, as only the left side is completely straight.

Honestly, this image is a terrible example to illustrate their point. I think it's more likely that children are more likely to actually use public transit, which is why they'd be able to detect the missing door quickly.

Re: Bouba/kiki effect

#80
post #5

What about the effect where for some pairs of words that don't theoretically have ordering preference (kiki/bouba vs bouba/kiki), (plus/minus vs minus/plus), (on/off vs off/on), (positive/negative vs negative/positive) have some psychological order that most people use and if the other ordering is used, it sound weird? Does this effect have a name?

Even among words that do theoretically have an ordering preference, some people have different habits. I knew someone who habitually said "three or two", rather than "two or three". Leaving aside the effect of prosody mentioned in another comment, I think the rest of it is habit, together with the brain's tendency to group things. If you're used to hearing "plus or minus", your brain may be grouping it together into…

> For instance, a±b∓c means "a+b-c or a-b+c".

I feel like this would be less confusing if rendered as "±(a+b-c)". It's the same amount of cognitive effort for figuring out the second term/factor, but you get the first one for free.

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