As bitter as a trombone: Synesthetic correspondences in nonsynesthetes between tastes/flavors and musical notes

Abstract

In parallel to studies of various cases of synesthesia, many cross-modal correspondences have also been documented in nonsynesthetes. Among these correspondences, implicit associations between taste and pitch have been reported recently (Crisinel & Spence, 2009. Here, we replicate and extend these findings through explicit matching of sounds of varying pitch to a range of tastes/flavors. In addition, participants in the experiment reported here also chose the type of musical instrument most appropriate for each taste/flavor. The association of sweet and sour tastes to high-pitched notes was confirmed. By contrast, umami and bitter tastes were preferentially matched to low-pitched notes. Flavors did not display such strong pitch associations. d The choice of musical instrument seems to have been driven primarily by a matching of the hedonic value and familiarity of the two types of stimuli. Our results raise important questions about our representation of tastes and flavors and could also lead to applications in the marketing of food products.

Crossmodal correspondences between odors and contingent features: odors, musical notes, and geometrical shapes

“…Such results accord well with previous findings demonstrating that sour and sweet tastes, two prominent taste qualities present in fruits, are both associated with high-pitched sounds (Crisinel & Spence, 2010). The fact that the tastes paired with high-pitched sounds and the smells associated with high-pitched sounds are themselves strongly connected (at least in the case of fruits, where they have been tested previously) still goes against the associative-learning explanation put forward for taste attributes and smells: It is not clear that any good explanation can be produced in the case of fruits being regularly experienced in conjunction with, or shortly after, sounds having a higher pitch.…”

Crossmodal correspondences between sounds and tastes

“…A growing body of research now demonstrates that Western participants will reliably match specific acoustic and musical parameters with different tastes, flavors, and oral-somatosensory food-related experiences (e.g., Bronner, 2012;Bronner et al, 2008;Crisinel & Spence, 2010a, 2010bMesz et al, 2011;Simner et al, 2010).…”

“…Unlike combinations of other sensory modalities, such as vision and audition, correspondences between audition and taste have only recently started to receive serious scholarly attention (although see Fónagy, 1963Fónagy, , 2001, for a solitary early exception). Over the last couple of years, however, there has been a rapid growth of research documenting the existence of a variety of intriguing crossmodal mappings (or correspondences) between auditory and gustatory/flavor stimuli (e.g., Bronner, 2012;Bronner, Bruhn, Hirt, & Piper, 2008;Crisinel & Spence, 2009, 2010a, b, 2011Mesz, Sigman, & Trevisan, 2012;Mesz, Trevisan, & Sigman, 2011;Simner, Cuskley, & Kirby, 2010;Spence, 2011a;).…”

Research on Audio-visual Emotion Fusion based on Superposition Response

“…The computer can form the computer vision and the sense of hearing by collecting the information of the image and music [7][8]. However, its research aims at simulating human intelligence [9], and it is far from enough to study the single perception process. The structural characteristics of the integration of meaning, visual and acoustic determine the social and natural attributes of audio-visual media.…”