Smelling sensations: olfactory crossmodal correspondences

Ward, Ryan Joseph ORCID: 0000-0002-9850-5191, Wuerger, Sophie and Marshall, Alan ORCID: 0000-0002-8058-5242 (2020) Smelling sensations: olfactory crossmodal correspondences 2020.04.15.042630-. ISSN 2692-8205

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Abstract

Crossmodal correspondences are the associations between apparently distinct stimuli in different sensory modalities . These associations, albeit surprising, are generally shared in most of the population. Olfaction is ingrained in the fabric of our daily life and constitutes an integral part of our perceptual reality, with olfaction being more commonly used in the entertainment and analytical domains, it is crucial to uncover the robust correspondences underlying common aromatic compounds. Towards this end, we investigated an aggregate of crossmodal correspondences between ten olfactory stimuli and other modalities ( angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, pleasantness, pitch, colours, musical genres and emotional dimensions ) using a large sample of 68 observers. We uncover the correspondences between these modalities and extent of these associations with respect to the explicit knowledge of the respective aromatic compound. The results revealed the robustness of prior studies, as well as, contributions towards olfactory integration between an aggregate of other dimensions. The knowledge of an odour's identity coupled with the multisensory perception of the odours indicates that these associations, for the most part, are relatively robust and do not rely on explicit knowledge of the odour. Through principal component analysis of the perceptual ratings, new cross-model mediations have been uncovered between odours and their intercorrelated sensory dimensions. Our results demonstrate a collective of associations between olfaction and other dimensions, potential cross modal mediations via exploratory factor analysis and the robustness of these correspondence with respect to the explicit knowledge of an odour. We anticipate the findings reported in this paper could be used as a psychophysical framework aiding in a collective of applications ranging from olfaction enhanced multimedia to marketing.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	32 Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 3209 Neurosciences, 52 Psychology, Behavioral and Social Science, Neurosciences, Basic Behavioral and Social Science
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2021 10:51
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2026 11:22
DOI:	10.1101/2020.04.15.042630
Related Websites:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3115810
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