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Researchers tested 70 domestic dogs and reported that they looked more at rounded shapes when they heard “Bouba” and at spiky shapes during “Kiki.” The results suggest dogs may link speech sounds with visual forms, but the study does not establish a universal association or explain how the dogs made the connection.
A study of 70 domestic dogs found that they looked more at rounded shapes while hearing “Bouba” and at spiky shapes while hearing “Kiki,” a sound-shape pairing commonly reported in people. The findings, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, suggest dogs may connect speech sounds with visual forms, but researchers say more work is needed to establish what the pattern means.
Animal behaviorist Eleonora Biffi of the University of Parma in Italy led the research. In the first experiment, 51 dogs sat with their owners in a room with a screen and speaker on each side. The researchers alternated spoken recordings of “Bouba” and “Kiki” with images of rounded and spiky shapes, switching the shapes between the screens. Each session lasted roughly 15 minutes, and video recordings were later analyzed to estimate where the dogs were looking from the direction of their heads.
A second experiment included 19 additional dogs and used the same basic setup. This time, owners wore headphones playing rock music so they could not hear the test words. The researchers designed this version to reduce the possibility that dogs were responding to unintentional signals from their owners, rather than to the sounds and images themselves.
Across the study, the team reported that dogs looked significantly more at the rounded image during “Bouba” and looked at and explored the spiky image during “Kiki.” The first experiment also showed a general tendency to look at spiky shapes, a bias that was not present in the second. That difference complicates interpretation: the researchers observed a sound-shape pattern, but the experiments do not by themselves show what mental process caused it.
What the Dog Responses May Show
The findings add dogs to research on sound symbolism: the possibility that some speech sounds are linked to particular visual qualities, rather than words being connected to meanings only by convention. In people, the “Bouba/Kiki” effect is often used to study how sound and shape may be associated. A similar result in dogs could offer researchers a way to examine whether these links extend beyond humans.
That matters because dogs are highly attentive to people and have developed close relationships with them. If dogs reliably connect particular sounds with visual forms, scientists could investigate how they process spoken language and whether experience with human communication affects those associations. This study does not show that dogs understand “Bouba” or “Kiki” as meaningful words, or that they interpret the shapes in the same way people do. It provides an initial behavioral result, not an account of how the association developed.
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The Bouba-Kiki Test in Dogs
The Bouba/Kiki experiment uses invented words paired with contrasting shapes. People asked to match the sounds with images commonly associate “Bouba” with a rounded form and “Kiki” with an angular or spiky one. The report describes the effect as having been studied since the 1920s and as appearing across people who use different languages and writing systems.
Biffi’s team adapted the test for dogs by presenting the words and shapes on opposite sides of a room and using head direction as a practical measure of visual attention. The second group’s headphone condition addressed one potential complication in animal behavior experiments: a pet might follow its owner’s behavior or react to cues the owner gives without meaning to. The researchers say the differing shape bias between the two experiments leaves that possibility and other explanations open.
““Dogs looked significantly more at the rounded shape while ‘Bouba’ was played, and they looked at and explored the spiky shape when ‘Kiki’ was played.””
— Eleonora Biffi and colleagues, as reported in the study
What the Experiments Cannot Resolve
The study does not establish whether dogs consciously associate the two spoken sounds with the shapes, or whether their looking behavior arose through another mechanism. The difference between the experiments—especially the spiky-shape preference found only when owners could hear the words—leaves open whether owner cues, differences between the dog groups, or other factors affected the results.
The report does not provide enough detail here to assess how individual dogs varied or whether the same responses would hold across other breeds, settings, and repeated tests. The findings also do not establish that dogs understand the words’ meanings, or that the sound-shape pairing is innate. The researchers characterize the results as a starting point and say more research is needed before drawing firm conclusions.
Further Tests of Sound and Shape
The next step is further research testing whether dogs show the same pattern under different conditions and whether the result can be replicated with new groups of animals. Studies that more directly separate responses to sound, image, and owner behavior could help clarify what is driving the observed looking patterns.
Researchers may also use this approach to examine broader questions about how dogs respond to human speech and how their close relationship with people has shaped their communication. No specific follow-up study or timetable is stated in the available report, so it remains unclear when additional results will be published.
Key Questions
What did the dogs do in the study?
Researchers reported that the dogs looked more at rounded shapes when they heard “Bouba” and looked at or explored spiky shapes during “Kiki.”
How many dogs took part?
The study involved 70 dogs: 51 in the first experiment and 19 in a second experiment designed to limit owners’ exposure to the test words.
Does this prove dogs understand the words?
No. The study measured looking and exploration, not word comprehension. It suggests a possible sound-shape association, but does not show that dogs understand “Bouba” or “Kiki” as words with meanings.
Why did some owners wear headphones?
In the second experiment, owners listened to rock music through headphones so they could not hear the words. This was intended to reduce the chance that dogs were responding to unintentional owner cues.
What remains uncertain?
Researchers have not established what caused the response, whether it reflects a stable association, or whether the pattern applies broadly to dogs. The difference in shape preference between the two experiments also needs further investigation.
Source: hn
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