Metallic: A Bivalent Ambimodal Material Property?

Abstract

Many metallic visual stimuli, especially the so-called precious metals, have long had a rich symbolic meaning for humans. Intriguingly, however, while metallic is used to describe sensations associated with pretty much every sensory modality, the descriptor is normally positively valenced in the case of vision while typically being negatively valenced in the case of those metallic sensations that are elicited by the stimulation of the chemical senses. In fact, outside the visual modality, metallic would often appear to be used to describe those sensations that are unfamiliar and unpleasant as much as to refer to any identifiable perceptual quality (or attribute). In this review, we assess those sensory stimuli that people choose to refer to as metallic, summarising the multiple, often symbolic, meanings of (especially precious) metals. The evidence of positively valenced sensation transference from metallic serviceware (e.g., plates, cups, and cutlery) to the food and drink with which it comes into contact is also reviewed.

Interacting with food: Tasting with the hands

“…At the same time, the diners were to be blasted with a giant fan (preferably an aeroplane propeller) while waiters sprayed them with the scent of carnation, all to the strains of a Wagner opera (seeSpence, 2017a).7 Though note that due to the phenomenon of 'distal attribution'(Holmes et al, 2004), people typically feel what is happening at the end of a tool, rather than necessarily being aware of the feel of the tool directly against their skin. Nevertheless, when an individual first picks up cutlery, their impression presumably relates to its weight, temperature, and texture (or feel), which may be more or less as expected.8 Notice though that while shiny tableware has long been deemed attractive, metallic taste sensations are typically rated as unpleasant (seeReith and Spence, 2020;Spence et al, 2021). According to MarkMiodownik, 2008, with each lick, we consume something like 100 billion atoms of spoon(Dunlop, 2012;Miodownik).…”