Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: Here we investigate associations between complex auditory and complex taste stimuli. A novel piece of music was composed and recorded in four different styles of musical articulation to reflect the four basic tastes groups (sweet, sour, salty, bitter). In Experiment 1, participants performed above chance at pairing the music clips with corresponding taste words. Experiment 2 uses multidimensional scaling to interpret how participants categorize these musical stimuli, and to show that auditory categories can be organized in a similar manner as taste categories. Experiment 3 introduces four different flavors of custom-made chocolate ganache and shows that participants can match music clips with the corresponding taste stimuli with above-chance accuracy. Experiment 4 demonstrates the partial role of pleasantness in crossmodal mappings between sound and taste. The present findings confirm that individuals are able to make crossmodal associations between complex auditory and gustatory stimuli, and that valence may mediate multisensory integration in the general population.
Source: PLoS ONE
Authors: Rachel Guetta, Psyche Loui
Institution: Wesleyan University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,382
Funders: GRAMMY Foundation, Imagination Institute
OpenAlex ID: W2598484445