Russell Alex, Stevenson Richard J, Rich Anina N
a School of Psychology , University of Sydney , Sydney , Australia.
Cogn Neurosci. 2015;6(2-3):77-88. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2015.1035245. Epub 2015 Apr 20.
Odors are often difficult to identify, and can be perceived either via the nose or mouth ("flavor"; not usually perceived as a "smell"). These features provide a unique opportunity to contrast conceptual and perceptual accounts of synesthesia. We presented six olfactory-visual synesthetes with a range of odorants. They tried to identify each smell, evaluate its attributes and illustrate their elicited visual experience. Judges rated the similarity of each synesthetes' illustrations over time (test-retest reliability). Synesthetic images were most similar from the same odor named consistently, but even inconsistently named same odors generated more similar images than different odors. This was driven by hedonic similarity. Odors presented as flavors only resulted in similar images when consistently named. Thus, the primary factor in generating a reliable synesthetic image is the name, with some influence of odor hedonics. Hedonics are a basic form of semantic knowledge, making this consistent with a conceptual basis for synaesthetic links.
气味通常难以辨别，可通过鼻子或嘴巴感知（“味道”；通常不被视为“气味”）。这些特征为对比联觉的概念性和感知性解释提供了独特契机。我们向六位嗅觉 - 视觉联觉者展示了一系列气味剂。他们尝试辨别每种气味，评估其属性，并描绘所引发的视觉体验。评判者对每位联觉者不同时间的描绘相似度进行评分（重测信度）。对于持续一致命名的相同气味，联觉图像最为相似，但即便命名不一致的相同气味所产生的图像也比不同气味的图像更相似。这是由享乐相似性驱动的。仅作为味道呈现的气味只有在持续一致命名时才会产生相似图像。因此，生成可靠联觉图像的主要因素是名称，气味享乐性也有一定影响。享乐性是语义知识的一种基本形式，这与联觉联系的概念基础相一致。
