Gastrophysics: Getting creative with pairing flavours

Stefano

2022

i-Perception

Self Cite

The notion of harmony was first developed in the context of metaphysics before being applied to the domain of music. However, in recent centuries, the term has often been used to describe especially pleasing combinations of colors by those working in the visual arts too. Similarly, the harmonization of flavors is nowadays often invoked as one of the guiding principles underpinning the deliberate pairing of food and drink. However, beyond the various uses of the term to describe and construct pleasurable unisensory perceptual experiences, it has also been suggested that music and painting may be combined harmoniously (e.g., see the literature on “color music”). Furthermore, those working in the area of “sonic seasoning” sometimes describe certain sonic compositions as harmonizing crossmodally with specific flavor sensations. In this review, we take a critical look at the putative meaning(s) of the term “harmony” when used in a crossmodal, or multisensory, context. Furthermore, we address the question of whether the term's use outside of a strictly unimodal auditory context should be considered literally or merely metaphorically (i.e., as a shorthand to describe those combinations of sensory stimuli that, for whatever reason, appear to go well together, and hence which can be processed especially fluently).

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crossmodal Harmony: Looking for the Meaning of Harmony Beyond Hearing

Stefano

2022

i-Perception

Self Cite

“…Emotional mediation, or common affective/connotative meaning as revealed by, for example, research involving the Semantic Differential technique (see Dalton et al, 2008), often appears to play key role in determining people's judgments of the similarity of stimuli from different categories (e.g., Gilbert et al, 2016;Pedovic ́& Stosic ́, 2018). Perhaps, though, we need to accept the possibility that crossmodal correspondences between (at least food-related) olfactory stimuli and basic tastes (i.e., gustatory qualities), are somehow importantly different from the correspondence that many people experience between other pairings of modalities (i.e., such as between visual and auditory stimuli, see Spence, 2022b). Different in the sense that judgments of perceptual similarity between certain pairs of olfactory and gustatory stimuli might make sense in a way that they do not when it comes to any other pairing of sensory modalities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is the question that I will address in this narrative historical review. The topic takes on added contemporary relevance given the growing interest in flavor pairing that has been seen in recent years (e.g., see Coucquyt et al, 2020 ; Spence, 2020b , 2022b , for reviews).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searching for perceptual similarity within, and between, the (chemical) senses

2022

i-Perception

Self Cite

In this narrative historical review, I want to take a closer look at the concept of perceptual similarity both as it applies within, and between, the chemical senses (specifically taste and smell). The discussion is linked to issues of affective similarity and connotative meaning. The relation between intramodal and crossmodal judgments of perceptual similarity, and the putatively special status of those odorants that happen to take on taste qualities will also be discussed. An important distinction is drawn between the interrelated, though sometimes distinct, notions of perceptual similarity and crossmodal congruency, specifically as they relate to the comparison of chemosensory stimuli. Such phenomena are often referred to as crossmodal correspondences, or by others (incorrectly in my view), as a kind of ubiquitous synesthesia.

“…However, as both modelling and neuroscientific methodologies advance, we are optimistic about the insights to be made in coming years. It is possible that machine-learning and the rapidly growing field of computational gastronomy may also deliver some relevant insights concerning the way in which flavour space should be conceptualized (see [151]). Given the success of Bayesian causal inference in other areas of multisensory perception research, it is to be hoped that the same approach can be fruitfully applied to explain/predict colour's influence over multisensory flavour perception.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Links between Colours and Tastes/Flavours

Levitan

2022

jpi

Self Cite

The colour and other visual appearance properties of food and drink constitute a key factor determining consumer acceptance and choice behaviour. Not only do consumers associate specific colours with particular tastes and flavours, but adding or changing the colour of food and drink can also dramatically affect taste/flavour perception. Surprisingly, even the colour of cups, cutlery, plates, packages, and the colour of the environment itself, have also been shown to influence multisensory flavour perception. The taste/flavour associations that we hold with colour are context-dependent, and are often based on statistical learning (though emotional mediation may also play a role). However, to date, neither the computational principles constraining these ubiquitous crossmodal effects nor the neural mechanisms underpinning the various crossmodal associations (or correspondences) that have been documented between colours and tastes/flavours have yet been established. It is currently unclear to what extent such colour-taste/flavour correspondences ought to be explained in terms of semantic congruency (i.e., statistical learning), and/or emotional mediation. Bayesian causal inference has become an increasingly important tool in helping researchers to understand (and predict) the multisensory interactions between the spatial senses of vision, audition, and touch. However, a network modelling approach may be of value moving forward. As made clear by this review, there are substantial challenges, both theoretical and practical, that will need to be overcome by those wanting to apply computational approaches both to understanding the integration of the chemical senses in the case of multisensory flavour perception, and to understanding the influence of colour thereon.