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When selecting an ambient scent to be diffused in a store, one can focus on pleasantness of the scent, congruency of the scent with product category, or a variety of concepts that can be the basis for congruency between scent and other atmospheric elements. However, more information is needed concerning the concepts from which congruency could be sought. This paper studies the strength and direction of 19 bipolar concepts related to meaning, perceived shape and sensory attributes elicited by 32 scents. Factor analysis indicates that the concepts can be grouped into four factors: an angelic, an energetic, a shape, and a depth factor. Cluster analysis indicates that the 32 scents can be grouped based on differences in strength as well as direction of the elicitations. The results indicate that certain concepts do co-occur and that a classification of scents based on their similar elicitations of concepts might be of value. Practical applicationsThe results illustrate that the current classification of scents in terms of notes (e.g., floral, fresh, woody, herbal) does not imply that scents present in the same category of notes elicit the same concepts. A new classification based on the elicited concepts is thus advised since this classification will better answer the needs of retailers when choosing a correct ambient scent. In particular, a retailer will then be able to choose the scent that will elicit the concepts he or she wishes to communicate. The results of this study provide a first insight into which concepts and factors need to be measured and which clusters of scents can be expected to arise.

People map different sensory stimuli, and words that describe/refer to those stimuli, onto spatial dimensions in a manner that is non-arbitrary. Here, we evaluate whether people also associate basic taste words and products with characteristic tastes with a distinctive location (e.g., upper right corner) or a more general direction (e.g., more right than left). Based on prior research on taste and location valence, we predicted that sweetness would be associated with higher vertical spatial positions than the other basic tastes. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 support the view that participants do indeed locate the word "sweet" higher in space than the word "bitter". In Experiment 2, the participants also positioned products that are typically expected to be sweet (cupcake and honey) or bitter (beer and coffee) spatially.Overall, the sweet-tasting products were assigned to higher locations than were the bittertasting products. In order to test whether taste/location congruency would also affect product evaluations, a third experiment was conducted. The results of Experiment 3A (between participants) and 3B (within participants) failed to provide any evidence for the existence of consistent taste/location congruency effects. However, in Experiment 3B, the participants evaluated the sweet products as looking more appetizing when presented in upper relative to lower shelf locations. In none of the three studies was an association found between tastes and positions along the horizontal axis. Taken together, these results suggest that sweet and bitter tastes are differentially located in vertical, but not horizontal, space. The potential implications of these findings for both our understanding of the crossmodal correspondences, as well as for taste evaluation, and product placement are discussed.

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