Crossmodal correspondences between sounds and tastes

Abstract

In this article, the rapidly growing body of research that has been published recently on the topic of crossmodal correspondences that involve auditory and gustatory/flavor stimuli is critically reviewed. The evidence demonstrates that people reliably match different tastes/flavors to auditory stimuli varying in both their psychoacoustic (e.g., pitch) and musical (e.g., timbre) properties. In order to stimulate further progress in this relatively young research field, the present article aims at consolidating prior findings concerning specific auditory-gustatory mappings, whereby special attention is given to highlighting (1) any conflicts in the existing experimental evidence and (2) any potential caveats with regard to the most appropriate interpretation of prior studies. Next, potential mechanisms underlying auditory-gustatory crossmodal correspondences are discussed. Finally, a number of potentially fruitful avenues for future research are outlined.

Wine and music (II): can you taste the music? Modulating the experience of wine through music and sound

“…One possibility was that participants may have mentally linked the residual taste with the note, so as long as the sound was unbroken, the taste also lingered. 12 For those who were wondering about this Finnish piece, according to the description in Spence et al [47]: "The melancholy, wistful melody of the song begins after the overture with unhurried, folk rhythm. The ambience grows gradually from wistful to an overwhelming sense of melancholy.…”

“…People (social drinkers) also appear to prefer wine while listening to Mozart's Flute Quartet in D major, K285-Movement rather than to Viljami Niittykoski's, Suvitunnelma (Summermood; [47]). 12 Furthermore, the better the match between the music and the wine (rated subjectively), the more pleasant the tasting experience (or vice versa; [47,48]). The latter result can perhaps best be accounted for in terms of the notion of processing fluency [51][52][53].…”

“…Crossmodal correspondences are the surprising associations that we all share between features, attributes, and sensory dimensions in one sensory modality and the seemingly unrelated features, attributes, and sensory dimensions of experience in another modality [7,8], such as between roundness and sweetness or brightness and pitch. Relevant here, a number of crossmodal correspondences between music (or musical attributes), on the one hand, and the taste, aroma/bouquet, mouthfeel, and/or flavors that are found in wine have been demonstrated in recent years [9][10][11][12]. Such correspondences between music and taste (i.e., flavor) may serve to direct the taster's attention to specific features in the wine, while listening to music.…”

Looking for crossmodal correspondences between classical music and fine wine

“…Over the last few years, a number of other researchers have also investigated the tendency of people to crossmodally match basic tastes (for example, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) with specific musical parameters (for example, [14][15][16]; see also [17]). The results of this research have tended to converge on the conclusion that people match sour-tasting foodstuffs with sounds that have a higher pitch while matching bitter-tasting foods and beverages with sounds having a lower pitch (see [18], for a review). The story, as regards sweet tastes, is somewhat more complex, for while people often match them with sounds having a high pitch (for example, [19]) in other studies they have been shown to associate them with lower-pitched sounds (see [17]).…”

“…Here, we present two experiments: In the first, we built on Crisinel and Spence's [11] research documenting the existence of a variety of crossmodal correspondences between specific notes and instrument types and individual aromas, as well as extending the growing body of research showing a crossmodal match between musical parameters and basic tastes and flavors (for example, [18][19][20]) in order to determine whether any crossmodal correspondences could be documented at the level of more complex pieces of classical music and a selection of quality wines.…”