As bitter as a trombone: Synesthetic correspondences in nonsynesthetes between tastes/flavors and musical notes
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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, 2010). 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. 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.
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Specific auditory attributes are associated with basic tastes, both when presented as taste words and in the form of tasting solutions.
“Previously, it has been shown that specific auditory attributes are associated with basic tastes, both when presented as taste words (for instance, 'sweet'), and in the form of tasting solutions [80-88]”
From The Role of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Sensory Factors in Sweetness Perception of Food and Beverages: A Review (2019) · cites this paper as [82]
The Stimuli section (page unavailable) describes basic tastes presented as solutions, and Ratings of Sounds reports associations with pitch. The paper also reports earlier findings using names of food or drink items, but not basic-taste words such as “sweet”; that specific presentation format is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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- Authors
- Crisinel, A.-S., & Spence, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Crisinel, A.-S.
- ORCID
- Spence, C.
- Venue
- Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
- Published
- 2010-10-01
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1994-2002
- ISSN
- 1943-3921 (ISSN-L)
- 1943-393X
- OpenAlex
- W2006443947
- Cited by
- 184
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 13.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Attention Perception & Psychophysics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- cross-modal correspondence, synesthesia, flavor, musical pitch, umami, bitter taste, hedonic value, familiarity, food marketing
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Association, Choice Behavior, Discrimination, Psychological, Female, Flavoring Agents, Humans, Male, Music, Pitch Perception, Taste, Recognition, Psychology, Young Adult
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