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An Expectation-Based Approach to Explaining the Crossmodal Influence of Color on Orthonasal Odor Identification: The Influence of Expertise

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

In a previous series of experiments, the present authors demonstrated that when people are asked to identify the flavors of various drinks on the basis of orthonasal olfactory cues, their judgments are sometimes influenced by the colors of the drinks. Here, we explored the role that expertise plays in mediating color–flavor interactions. Non-experts and flavor experts took part in an odor identification task in which they smelled a number of drinks whose flavors were incongruent with what their colors would suggest. When a particular color, identified by participants as being one that generated a strong flavor expectation, was added to these drinks (as compared to when no such color was added), a significantly greater proportion of both non-expert and flavor expert participants’ identification responses were consistent with this expectation. No significant difference in response behavior was found between these two groups of participants. Using a novel experimental approach that controlled for individual differences, the results of the present study add to the literature showing that flavor experts are not only susceptible to color-induced olfactory biases but perform no differently than non-experts in olfactory identification tasks.

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Notes

  1. Within this manuscript, the term ‘flavor’ refers to the olfactory component of each drink stimulus. In the experiment reported here participants were asked to provide responses regarding their ‘flavor’ expectations and judgments for the presented drinks, since the term ‘flavor identity’ (as compared to ‘odor identity’) is a more colloquial and well-understood concept among the general population and often refers to the odorant that is added to any drink. This term should not be confused with ‘flavor perception’, which refers to a multisensory process involving multiple senses (see Stevenson 2009, for a review).

  2. Here, we used an individualized approach to assess participants’ color-based expectations about odor identity (see Shankar et al. 2009). In previous research investigating the nature of color–odor interactions (or color–flavor interactions), individual differences have often been overlooked (cf. Davis 1981; Zellner et al. 1992; Zampini, Sanabria, Phillips, & Spence, 2007; Zampini, Wantling, Phillips, & Spence, 2008). One of the methodological improvements in the current experiment is to measure the flavor expectations held by an individual and then to examine whether the very same individual is influenced by his or her specific color-induced expectations. Another improvement present in this experiment is that when analyzing the data for the effects of assimilation, we look for specific patterns of behavior within each individual and only then look for generalized patterns across the whole group (see Cardello 2007).

  3. As decisions regarding what constituted a “low” or “high” discrepancy drink were made by a senior application scientist at Givaudan (personal correspondence, September 10, 2009), a control condition was conducted in order to determine that the selected drinks were in fact perceived as such by our participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Maya Shankar & Charles Spence

  2. Psychophysics Laboratory, Givaudan Corporation, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Christopher Simons

  3. Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford, CA, USA

    Baba Shiv

  4. Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Samuel McClure

  5. Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK

    Maya Shankar

Authors
  1. Maya Shankar
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  2. Christopher Simons
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  3. Baba Shiv
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  4. Samuel McClure
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  5. Charles Spence
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Correspondence to Maya Shankar.

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Shankar, M., Simons, C., Shiv, B. et al. An Expectation-Based Approach to Explaining the Crossmodal Influence of Color on Orthonasal Odor Identification: The Influence of Expertise. Chem. Percept. 3, 167–173 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-010-9072-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-010-9072-2

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