Revisiting the automaticity of phonetic symbolism effects

This research extends our understanding of the automaticity of phonetic symbolism judgments for adults and children. Replicating Study 2 from Yorkston and Menon (2004), we demonstrate that phonetic-based inferences are automatic and relatively effortless for adults, but not for children. Phonetic symbolism effects have a developmental grounding, with initial phonetic-based judgments not present in younger children (6 to 9 years). Older children (10 to 13 years), however, demonstrate phonetic-based effects only when cognitive constraints are not imposed.