Tabassum Farhana, Chuquichambi Erick G, Spence Charles, Munar Enric, Velasco Carlos
Department of Marketing and Sales Management, IÉSEG School of Management, Lille, France.
Human Evolution and Cognition Group (EvoCog), University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2025 Sep;78(9):1949-1971. doi: 10.1177/17470218241307929. Epub 2024 Dec 30.
The present research investigates the stability of taste-shape crossmodal correspondences (i.e., how people non-randomly associate tastes and visual shapes, such as sweetness matched to roundness) over time, exploring the temporal dimension of crossmodal interactions. While previous research has established the existence of various taste-shape crossmodal correspondences, this study addresses their consistency over time through a test-retest paradigm. Drawing parallels with the concept of synesthesia, in which stability is used as a criterion, the research focuses on taste-shape associations, a domain not previously explored for temporal stability. Participants rated the perceived curvature and symmetry that they associated with taste words (sweet, umami, sour, salty, and bitter) and their liking of tastes and shapes. The same participants performed this task three times over a 2-week period. The results consistently replicated previous findings, revealing that sweet tastes were perceived as significantly more curved and symmetrical than other tastes, and umami was rated as more curved and symmetrical than sour, salty, and bitter tastes. Notably, the study found moderate-to-substantial test-retest reliability for the majority of the taste-shape correspondences, indicating robust stability over time. Analyses suggested that differences in assessments between test and retest sessions were primarily due to random error, with no systematic biases. However, a small subset of participants showed significant differences from other participants in their associations, particularly for umami-related correspondences. This research contributes to our understanding of taste-shape correspondences by demonstrating their temporal stability, offering insights into the dynamics of taste, curvature, symmetry, and liking. We posit that consistency might be used as a criterion supporting the existence of a given crossmodal correspondence. The findings have implications for product design and marketing, emphasising the importance of considering temporal aspects when capitalising on crossmodal correspondences in creating product expectations and experiences.
本研究调查了味觉-形状跨通道对应关系（即人们如何非随机地将味觉与视觉形状联系起来，比如将甜味与圆形相匹配）随时间的稳定性，探索跨通道交互作用的时间维度。虽然先前的研究已经证实了各种味觉-形状跨通道对应关系的存在，但本研究通过重测范式来探讨它们随时间的一致性。该研究借鉴了以稳定性为标准的联觉概念，聚焦于味觉-形状关联，这是一个此前未探索过时间稳定性的领域。参与者对与味觉词汇（甜、鲜味、酸、咸和苦）相关的感知曲率和对称性以及他们对味觉和形状的喜好程度进行评分。相同的参与者在两周内完成了三次这项任务。结果一致地重复了先前的发现，表明甜味比其他味觉被感知为明显更弯曲和更对称，并且鲜味被评为比酸、咸和苦味更弯曲和更对称。值得注意的是，该研究发现大多数味觉-形状对应关系具有中等至高度的重测信度，表明随时间具有较强的稳定性。分析表明，测试和重测阶段评估的差异主要是由于随机误差，不存在系统偏差。然而，一小部分参与者在他们的关联方面与其他参与者表现出显著差异，特别是在与鲜味相关的对应关系上。本研究通过证明味觉-形状对应关系的时间稳定性，为我们对味觉-形状对应关系的理解做出了贡献，提供了关于味觉、曲率、对称性和喜好动态的见解。我们认为一致性可以用作支持给定跨通道对应关系存在的标准。这些发现对产品设计和营销具有启示意义，强调了在利用跨通道对应关系来创造产品期望和体验时考虑时间因素的重要性。
