Haptic and Tactile Adjectives Are Consistently Mapped onto Color Space

Abstract

Cross-modal associations refer to non-arbitrary associations of features across sensory modalities. Such associations have been observed between many different sensory features. One association that has rarely been studied so far is between touch and color. In this study, participants were asked to match tactile and haptic adjectives to color samples shown individually on a screen. They could select one to 11 tactile and haptic terms, presented in 11 pairs of opposed adjectives. The results showed a regular pattern in the way tactile and haptic terms were matched to color. Our results further revealed that the colors to which tactile and haptic terms were matched did not fall within the boundaries of color lexical categories, suggesting that the associations were not based on lexicon — despite the frequent occurrence of linguistic expressions such as ‘soft pink’, not all colors called ‘pink’ were matched to ‘soft’. In contrast with one recent study, the distribution of tactile and haptic terms across the Munsell array suggests that along with brightness and chroma, hue was also relevant to participants’ responses. Specifically in the case of hue, several opposed adjectives were relatively well matched to opposed colors, along the orthogonal Yellow/Blue and Red/Green axes, which are suggested to structure the space of hue experience. Possible accounts of these results are considered.

Crossmodal Associations with Olfactory, Auditory, and Tactile Stimuli in Children and Adults

“…In the tactile task, we included visual dimensions previously shown to be associated with tactile properties: hue, chroma, and lightness ( Jraissati et al, 2016 ; Ludwig & Simner, 2013 ; Martino & Marks, 2000 ; Slobodenyuk et al, 2015 ). We also tested associations with shape and pitch.…”

Roughness perception: A multisensory/crossmodal perspective

“…High vs. low music softness enhances consumers’ haptic softness perception (Imschloss & Kuehnl, 2019 ). Visuotactile Softness and smoothness matched to bright colours (i.e., yellow, pink, and white), while roughness matched to darker colours (i.e., black, brown, red and purple-red; Jraissati et al, 2016 ; Ludwig & Simner, 2013 ; Slobodenyuk et al, 2015 ). Touch & Taste Roughness associated with saltiness (Van Rompay & Groothedde, 2019 ; though see Wan et al, 2014 ).…”

“…Moreover, the participants tended to match rougher, harder, and heavier sensations to red and purple-red hues, while they matched softer sensations to yellow and green-yellow hues. In a subsequent study by the same group (Jraissati et al, 2016 ), a group of Arabic participants was asked to match haptic terms to 64 Munsell colour patches. Eleven pairs of opposed haptic terms were used, corresponding to the following English paired terms: soft/hard; smooth/rough; sticky/nonsticky; supple/rigid; elastic/stiff; viscous/fluid; light/heavy; warm/cold; thin/thick; dry/humid; pointy/round.…”

Function Follows Form: Using the Aesthetic Association Principle to Enhance Haptic Interface Design

“…For example, comfort was reported with decreasing roughness. Generally, there seem to be systematic links between colors and haptic/tactile stimuli and descriptions (Simner and Ludwig, 2012 ; Ludwig and Simner, 2013 ; Jraissati et al, 2016 ). For example, pink was associated with softness; black was associated with hardness.…”

“…For example, pink was associated with softness; black was associated with hardness. Jraissati et al ( 2016 ) argue that brightness, chroma, and hue have an influence of color-haptic association. For example, colors associated with adjectives like softness and lightness were brighter than those associated with their verbal counterparts.…”