Crossmodal Interactions Between Olfaction and Touch Affecting Well-Being and Perception of Cosmetic Creams

Abstract

In the present series of studies, we investigated crossmodal perception of odor and texture. In four studies, participants tried two textures of face creams, one high viscosity (HV) and one low viscosity (LV), each with one of three levels of added odor (standard level, half of standard, or base [no added odor]), and then reported their levels of well-being. They also reported their perceptions of the face creams, including liking (global liking of the product, liking of its texture) and “objective” evaluations on just about right (JAR) scales (texture and visual appearance evaluations). In Study 1, women in France tried the creams on their hands, as they would when testing them in a store, and in Study 2, a second group of French women tried the creams on their faces, as they would at home. In Studies 3 and 4, these same two procedures were repeated in China. Results showed that both odor and texture had effects on well-being, liking, and JAR ratings, including interaction effects. Though effects varied by country and context (hand or face), the addition of odor to the creams generally increased reports of well-being, global liking and texture liking, in some cases affecting the “objective” evaluations of texture. This is one of the first investigations of crossmodal olfactory and tactile perception's impacts on well-being, and it reinforces previous literature showing the importance of olfaction on well-being.

A three-factor benefits framework for understanding consumer preference for scented household products: psychological interactions and implications for future development

“…In a similar vein, Churchill et al (2009) examined whether different pleasant scents added to shampoo would affect the perception of hair after washing, and found that the different odors affected the perception of hair texture characteristics, supporting the notion of a cross-modal interaction between scent and touch. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, scent can enhance the perception of texture in cosmetic lotions (Courrèges et al, 2021). Thus, tactile-olfactory interactions present a particularly fruitful area for future research in consumer behavior (Courrèges et al, 2021;Demattè et al, 2007aDemattè et al, , 2007bKrishna et al, 2010).…”

“…Additionally, as mentioned earlier, scent can enhance the perception of texture in cosmetic lotions (Courrèges et al, 2021). Thus, tactile-olfactory interactions present a particularly fruitful area for future research in consumer behavior (Courrèges et al, 2021;Demattè et al, 2007aDemattè et al, , 2007bKrishna et al, 2010).…”

“…Beyond the utilization of scent to invigorate product perception and purchasing behavior, is the general field of sensory marketing where multiple sensory features of a product are capitalized upon for their interactions in augmenting product perception. For example, it was recently shown that scent enhanced the texture/tactile properties of a cosmetic lotion; with added scent, lotion liking, texture liking, and ratings of wellbeing from usage all increased (Courrèges et al, 2021). Thus, in order to fully understand the impact of scent on product perception, it is important to adopt a multimodal perspective.…”

Impacts of sensory multimodality congruence and familiarity with short use on cosmetic product evaluation

“…However, not all sensory modalities are involved equally in all stimuli, and specific cross-modal integration may be particularly relevant for specific context. For a cosmetic product, touch and olfaction are intuitively the two most important senses and their integration plays an important role in the perceptual decision guiding product utilisation behaviour [2]. In addition, state of the art in the actual cosmetic market shows that a given texture is usually more associated with particular families of fragrances and vice versa.…”

“…However, they use brush stroking as tactile stimulations which is far from the ones from cosmetic products [12]. To our knowledge, only one study by Courrèges et al [2] has focused on the influences of touch-smell cross-modal interaction on hedonic evaluation of a cosmetic product. They have shown that the addition of a fragrance increased well-being ratings and liking of a texture.…”