Pitch-Luminance Crossmodal Correspondence in the Baby Chick: An Investigation on Predisposed and Learned Processes.

Our senses are constantly reached by a multitude of stimuli from all different sensory modalities. To create a coherent representation of the environment, we must integrate the various unimodal inputs that refer to the same object into a single multimodal representation. In some cases, however, we tend to bind certain properties of the stimuli without any apparent reason, which is a phenomenon named crossmodal correspondence. For instance, we match a spiky or a rounded shape with the sound "Kiki" or "Bouba", respectively. Similarly, we associate the left hemispace with low luminance and the right one with high luminance. Instances of crossmodal correspondences were described also in other mammals, and recently, a case of space-luminance crossmodal correspondence was reported in birds (i.e., domestic chicks). Here, we investigate the presence of pitch-luminance crossmodal correspondence in three-day-old chicks, employing experimental methods that exploit either predisposed or learned processes. While failing to report evidence for this phenomenon, we discuss the difference between statistical and structural crossmodal correspondences and the possible role of environmental factors in determining their emergence. Moreover, we discuss the importance of the different experimental methodologies to investigate distinct aspects of this perceptual phenomenon to reach a deeper understanding and unveil the role of innate vs. learned mechanisms

Vertical Mapping of Auditory Loudness: Loud is High, but Quiet is not Always Low

Although the perceptual association between verticality and pitch has been widely studied, the link between loudness and verticality is not fully understood yet. While loud and quiet sounds are assumed to be equally associated crossmodally with spatial elevation, there are perceptual differences between the two types of sounds that may suggest the contrary. For example, loud sounds tend to generate greater activity, both behaviourally and neurally, than quiet sounds. Here we investigated whether this difference percolates into the crossmodal correspondence between loudness and verticality. In an initial phase, participants learned one-to-one arbitrary associations between two tones differing in loudness (82dB vs. 56dB) and two coloured rectangles (blue vs. yellow). During the experimental phase, they were presented with the two-coloured stimuli (each one located above or below a central "departure" point) together with one of the two tones. Participants had to indicate which of the two-coloured rectangles corresponded to the previously-associated tone by moving a mouse cursor from the departure point towards the target. The results revealed that participants were significantly faster responding to the loud tone when the visual target was located above (congruent condition) than when the target was below the departure point (incongruent condition). For quiet tones, no differences were found between the congruent (quiet-down) and the incongruent (quiet-up) conditions. Overall, this pattern of results suggests that possible differences in the neural activity generated by loud and quiet sounds influence the extent to which loudness and spatial elevation share representational content

Crossmodal Correspondence between Color, Shapes, and Wine Odors and Sensitivity to Subtle Changes in Wine Odor

Wine odor is a key component of wine quality and is one of the most complex food odors humans perceive. This thesis used two separate studies to answer the following questions: first, how is wine odor perception influenced by visual cues on packaging (i.e. wine label)? And second, how sensitive are humans to subtle changes in wine odor? In the first study odor-color-shape crossmodal interactions with complex odor stimuli (chardonnay odors) and visual stimuli were investigated. The results showed that most chardonnay odors were grouped similarly; however, the vegetable-forward wine was more associated with sharper shapes. In general, yellow labels tended to be better matched with all odors, except the vegetable-forward wine, which was matched equally to all colors; indicating that, regardless of odor character, chardonnay is mostly associated with a yellow colored label. Interestingly, results also indicated that not all correspondences aligned with the most common color association of an odor character’s (i.e., vegetative was not strictly associated with green, nor smoky with brown, etc.). Significant correlations between stimuli liking and matching scores indicate that many of the correspondences are explained by hedonics. In a second study, designed to assess general human sensitivity to changes in wine odor, a model wine odor was used to gauge the discriminatory ability of experts and novices. Panelists as a whole were not able to discriminate between either the addition or subtraction samples compared to their base counterparts. Furthermore, expertise did not seem to play a role in discriminatory abilities either, with experts and novices producing similar d\u27 values. Overall, the d\u27 values were consistently low and demonstrate that the stimuli were challenging to discriminate between. Taken together, these studies show that specific wine odor characteristics do correspond with specific visual stimuli and human sensitivity to changes in odor mixtures is not extremely high, even in wine experts

Effect of colour on exotic fruit flavour perception

12 Páginas.Los colores y su influencia en la mente humana han sido fuertemente investigados. Varios estudios han demostrado que los colores y los diferentes contextos pueden modificar la percepción humana. Aunque la influencia del color en el sabor se ha estudiado antes, no ha habido mucha enfasis en la población latina. Debido a esto, elegimos cuestionar la influencia de este atributo visual en los alimentos. Por lo tanto, la hipótesis de que los diferentes colores de los alimentos puede cambiar la percepción del sabor, influyendo en la forma en que el consumidor percibe el sabor puede ser (aunque puede ser diferente de la actual), comparándolo con lo que consideran un gusto congruente y el color. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 91 hombres y mujeres colombianos de edades comprendidas entre los 18 y los 25 años, probamos jaleas de tres sabores diferentes de frutas (mango, lulo y guanábana) en tres colores diferentes (rojo, amarillo y verde) Y percepción de acidez mediante escalas analógicas visuales. Los resultados del estudio mostraron que la acidez del lulo se percibe más alta cuando se compara con el color verde y baja con el rojo, según un ANOVA (p <0,05). Este resultado se repitió con la guanábana y el mango, mostrando una fuerte tendencia. Además, encontramos una tendencia en cuanto a la percepción de dulzor y el color amarillo con el mango, el lulo y la guanábana. En contraste, el color verde fue percibido como el que tenía menos dulzor en el lulo y en la guanábana. Según la literatura, los resultados muestran una asociación de la dulzura con el amarillo, y una asociación de la acidez con el verde, se observa que existe realmente un cambio de la percepción del sabor en términos de color. Como producto del estudio podemos concluir, en la población latina estos colores tienen un comportamiento similar en la percepción de sabor de estos frutos

Pairing Situation of Soundscape and Flavors from Integrative Medicine (IM) Point Of View

For Integrative medicine (IM), the authors have continued to practice music therapy and manage the Integrative Medicine Japan (IMJ), Shikoku Island Division for years. This article describes the pairing situation of soundscape/hearing and flavor/smell. Several crossmodal correspondences include flavorful stimuli, sound stimuli, shapes, colors, textures, and so on. Various kinds of food include chocolate, coffee, wine, whiskey, cognac and others. The perceptual association between them is called sonic seasoning. When tasting wine with music, possible perspectives include pleasure, response, analysis and description. Basic perceptual similarities in the olfactory and auditory stimuli show high or low notes, harmonies and chords

How Do We Experience Crossmodal Correspondent Mulsemedia Content?

Sensory studies emerged as a significant influence upon Human Computer Interaction and traditional multimedia. Mulsemedia is an area that extends multimedia addressing issues of multisensorial response through the combination of at least three media, typically a non-traditional media with traditional audio-visual content. In this paper, we explore the concepts of Quality of Experience and crossmodal correspondences through a case study of different types of mulsemedia setups. The content is designed following principles of crossmodal correspondence between different sensory dimensions and delivered through olfactory, auditory and vibrotactile displays. The Quality of Experience is evaluated through both subjective (questionnaire) and objective means (eye gaze and heart rate). Results show that the auditory experience has an influence on the olfactory sensorial responses and lessens the perception of lingering odor. Heat maps of the eye gazes suggest that the crossmodality between olfactory and visual content leads to an increased visual attention on the factors of the employed crossmodal correspondence (e.g., color, brightness, shape)

Does language influence the vertical representation of auditory pitch and loudness?

Higher frequency and louder sounds are associated with higher positions whereas lower frequency and quieter sounds are associated with lower locations. In English, ''high'' and ''low'' are used to label pitch, loudness, and spatial verticality. By contrast, different words are preferentially used, in Catalan and Spanish, for pitch (high: ''agut/agudo''; low: ''greu/grave'') and for loudness/verticality (high: ''alt/alto''; low: ''baix/bajo''). Thus, English and Catalan/Spanish differ in the spatial connotations for pitch. To analyze the influence of language on these crossmodal associations, a task was conducted in which English and Spanish/Catalan speakers had to judge whether a tone was higher or lower (in pitch or loudness) than a reference tone. The response buttons were located at crossmodally congruent or incongruent positions with respect to the probe tone. Crossmodal correspondences were evidenced in both language groups. However, English speakers showed greater effects for pitch, suggesting an influence of linguistic background

Auditory Sensory Substitution is Intuitive and Automatic with Texture Stimuli

Millions of people are blind worldwide. Sensory substitution (SS) devices (e.g., vOICe) can assist the blind by encoding a video stream into a sound pattern, recruiting visual brain areas for auditory analysis via crossmodal interactions and plasticity. SS devices often require extensive training to attain limited functionality. In contrast to conventional attention-intensive SS training that starts with visual primitives (e.g., geometrical shapes), we argue that sensory substitution can be engaged efficiently by using stimuli (such as textures) associated with intrinsic crossmodal mappings. Crossmodal mappings link images with sounds and tactile patterns. We show that intuitive SS sounds can be matched to the correct images by naive sighted participants just as well as by intensively-trained participants. This result indicates that existing crossmodal interactions and amodal sensory cortical processing may be as important in the interpretation of patterns by SS as crossmodal plasticity (e.g., the strengthening of existing connections or the formation of new ones), especially at the earlier stages of SS usage. An SS training procedure based on crossmodal mappings could both considerably improve participant performance and shorten training times, thereby enabling SS devices to significantly expand blind capabilities