scholarly journals Smelling sensations: olfactory crossmodal correspondences

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Joseph Ward ◽  
Sophie Wuerger ◽  
Alan Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Aromatic Compounds ◽  
Explicit Knowledge ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Cross Model ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Dimensions ◽  
Musical Genres

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.

scholarly journals Smelling Sensations: Olfactory Crossmodal Correspondences †

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Ward ◽  
Sophie M. Wuerger ◽  
Alan Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Experience ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Crossmodal Interactions ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Dimensions ◽  
Musical Genres ◽  
Sensory Expectations

Olfaction is ingrained into the fabric of our daily lives and constitutes an integral part of our perceptual reality. Within this reality, there are crossmodal interactions and sensory expectations; understanding how olfaction interacts with other sensory modalities is crucial for augmenting interactive experiences with more advanced multisensorial capabilities. This knowledge will eventually lead to better designs, more engaging experiences, and enhancing the perceived quality of experience. Toward this end, the authors investigated a range of crossmodal correspondences between ten olfactory stimuli and different modalities (angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, pleasantness, pitch, colors, musical genres, and emotional dimensions) using a sample of 68 observers. Consistent crossmodal correspondences were obtained in all cases, including our novel modality (the smoothness of texture). These associations are most likely mediated by both the knowledge of an odor’s identity and the underlying hedonic ratings: the knowledge of an odor’s identity plays a role when judging the emotional and musical dimensions but not for the angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, perceived pleasantness, or pitch. Overall, hedonics was the most dominant mediator of crossmodal correspondences.

scholarly journals Smelling Sensations: Olfactory Crossmodal Correspondences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J. Ward ◽  
Sophie M. Wuerger ◽  
Alan Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Experience ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Crossmodal Interactions ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Emotional Dimensions ◽  
Musical Genres ◽  
Sensory Expectations

Olfaction is ingrained into the fabric of our daily lives and constitutes an integral part of our perceptual reality. Within this reality, there are crossmodal interactions and sensory expectations; understanding how olfaction interacts with other sensory modalities is crucial for augmenting interactive experiences with more advanced multisensorial capabilities. This knowledge will eventually lead to better designs, more engaging experiences, and enhancing the perceived quality of experience. Toward this end, the authors investigated a range of crossmodal correspondences between ten olfactory stimuli and different modalities (angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, pleasantness, pitch, colors, musical genres, and emotional dimensions) using a sample of 68 observers. Consistent crossmodal correspondences were obtained in all cases, including our novel modality (the smoothness of texture). These associations are most likely mediated by both the knowledge of an odor’s identity and the underlying hedonic ratings: the knowledge of an odor’s identity plays a role when judging the emotional and musical dimensions but not for the angularity of shapes, smoothness of texture, perceived pleasantness, or pitch. Overall, hedonics was the most dominant mediator of crossmodal correspondences.

Crossmodal Correspondences: Standing Issues and Experimental Guidelines

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 7-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesare V. Parise
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Cue Integration ◽  
Natural Scene Statistics ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Sensory Features ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Practical Guidelines ◽  
Sensory Cue

Crossmodal correspondences refer to the systematic associations often found across seemingly unrelated sensory features from different sensory modalities. Such phenomena constitute a universal trait of multisensory perception even in non-human species, and seem to result, at least in part, from the adaptation of sensory systems to natural scene statistics. Despite recent developments in the study of crossmodal correspondences, there are still a number of standing questions about their definition, their origins, their plasticity, and their underlying computational mechanisms. In this paper, I will review such questions in the light of current research on sensory cue integration, where crossmodal correspondences can be conceptualized in terms of natural mappings across different sensory cues that are present in the environment and learnt by the sensory systems. Finally, I will provide some practical guidelines for the design of experiments that might shed new light on crossmodal correspondences.

scholarly journals Development of Korean Indigenous Low-Temperature-Tolerant Yeast for Enhancing the Flavor of Yakju

Fermentation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 260
Author(s):  
Jong-Beom Park ◽  
Jun-Su Choi ◽  
Hye-Won Park ◽  
Sae-Byuk Lee ◽  
Heui-Dong Park
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Aromatic Compounds ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Isoamyl Alcohol ◽  
Pichia Kudriavzevii ◽  
Fermented Beverage ◽  
Ethyl Hexadecanoate ◽  
Phenethyl Acetate ◽  
Volatile Aromatic Compounds

Yakju, a traditional fermented beverage in Korea, is prepared using various raw materials and methods, and, hence, exhibits various characteristics. Low-temperature-fermented yakju can inhibit the growth of undesirable bacteria and is known for its unique flavor and refreshing taste. To increase the production of volatile aromatic compounds in yakju, strains with strong resistance to low temperatures and excellent production of volatile aromatic compounds were screened from indigenous fruits (grape, persimmon, plum, aronia, wild grape) and nuruk in Korea. One Saccharomyces cerevisiae and three non-Saccharomyces strains were finally screened, and yakju was fermented at 15 °C through mono/co-culture. The analysis of volatile aromatic compounds showed that S. cerevisiae W153 produced 1.5 times more isoamyl alcohol than the control strain and reduced the production of 2,3-butanediol by a third. Similarly, a single culture of Pichia kudriavzevii N373 also produced 237.7 mg/L of ethyl acetate, whereas Hanseniaspora vineae G818 produced ~11 times greater levels of 2-phenethyl acetate than the control. Alternatively, Wickerhamomyces anomalus A159 produced 95.88 mg/L of ethyl hexadecanoate. During principal component analysis, we also observed that the co-culture sample exhibited characteristics of both volatile aroma compounds of the single cultured sample of each strain. Our results suggest that yakju with unique properties can be prepared using various non-Saccharomyces strains.

Audiovisual crossmodal correspondences in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Valeria Occelli ◽  
Gianluca Esposito ◽  
Paola Venuti ◽  
Peter Walker ◽  
Massimiliano Zampini
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Association Pattern ◽  
Visual Patterns ◽  
Visual Inputs ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondence ◽  
Matching Performance ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Auditory Features

The label ‘crossmodal correspondences’ has been used to define the nonarbitrary associations that appear to exist between different basic physical stimulus attributes in different sensory modalities. For instance, it has been consistently shown in the neurotypical population that higher pitched sounds are more frequently matched with visual patterns which are brighter, smaller, and sharper than those associated to lower pitched sounds. Some evidence suggests that patients with ASDs tend not to show this crossmodal preferential association pattern (e.g., curvilinear shapes and labial/lingual consonants vs. rectilinear shapes and plosive consonants). In the present study, we compared the performance of children with ASDs (6–15 years) and matched neurotypical controls in a non-verbal crossmodal correspondence task. The participants were asked to indicate which of two bouncing visual patterns was making a centrally located sound. In intermixed trials, the visual patterns varied in either size, surface brightness, or shape, whereas the sound varied in pitch. The results showed that, whereas the neurotypical controls reliably matched the higher pitched sound to a smaller and brighter visual pattern, the performance of participants with ASDs was at chance level. In the condition where the visual patterns differed in shape, no inter-group difference was observed. Children’s matching performance cannot be attributed to intensity matching or difficulties in understanding the instructions, which were controlled. These data suggest that the tendency to associate congruent visual and auditory features vary as a function of the presence of ASDs, possibly pointing to poorer capabilities to integrate auditory and visual inputs in this population.

scholarly journals Associative learning changes cross-modal representations in the gustatory cortex

eLife ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Vincis ◽  
Alfredo Fontanini
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Sensory Cortex ◽  
Gustatory Cortex ◽  
Primary Sensory Cortex ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Single Modality

A growing body of literature has demonstrated that primary sensory cortices are not exclusively unimodal, but can respond to stimuli of different sensory modalities. However, several questions concerning the neural representation of cross-modal stimuli remain open. Indeed, it is poorly understood if cross-modal stimuli evoke unique or overlapping representations in a primary sensory cortex and whether learning can modulate these representations. Here we recorded single unit responses to auditory, visual, somatosensory, and olfactory stimuli in the gustatory cortex (GC) of alert rats before and after associative learning. We found that, in untrained rats, the majority of GC neurons were modulated by a single modality. Upon learning, both prevalence of cross-modal responsive neurons and their breadth of tuning increased, leading to a greater overlap of representations. Altogether, our results show that the gustatory cortex represents cross-modal stimuli according to their sensory identity, and that learning changes the overlap of cross-modal representations.

scholarly journals On the Relative Nature of (Pitch-Based) Crossmodal Correspondences

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
One To One ◽  
Crossmodal Associations

Abstract This review deals with the question of the relative vs absolute nature of crossmodal correspondences, with a specific focus on those correspondences involving the auditory dimension of pitch. Crossmodal correspondences have been defined as the often-surprising crossmodal associations that people experience between features, attributes, or dimensions of experience in different sensory modalities, when either physically present, or else merely imagined. In the literature, crossmodal correspondences have often been contrasted with synaesthesia in that the former are frequently said to be relative phenomena (e.g., it is the higher-pitched of two sounds that is matched with the smaller of two visual stimuli, say, rather than there being a specific one-to-one crossmodal mapping between a particular pitch of sound and size of object). By contrast, in the case of synaesthesia, the idiosyncratic mapping between inducer and concurrent tends to be absolute (e.g., it is a particular sonic inducer that elicits a specific colour concurrent). However, a closer analysis of the literature soon reveals that the distinction between relative and absolute in the case of crossmodal correspondences may not be as clear-cut as some commentators would have us believe. Furthermore, it is important to note that the relative vs absolute question may receive different answers depending on the particular (class of) correspondence under empirical investigation.

Finding the Brain in the Nose

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 277-295
Author(s):  
David H. Brann ◽  
Sandeep Robert Datta
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Perception And Action ◽  
Complex Mixtures ◽  
Peripheral Population ◽  
Volatile Chemicals ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Population Codes ◽  
Receptor Array ◽  
Olfactory Stimuli ◽  
The Brain

Olfaction is fundamentally distinct from other sensory modalities. Natural odor stimuli are complex mixtures of volatile chemicals that interact in the nose with a receptor array that, in rodents, is built from more than 1,000 unique receptors. These interactions dictate a peripheral olfactory code, which in the brain is transformed and reformatted as it is broadcast across a set of highly interconnected olfactory regions. Here we discuss the problems of characterizing peripheral population codes for olfactory stimuli, of inferring the specific functions of different higher olfactory areas given their extensive recurrence, and of ultimately understanding how odor representations are linked to perception and action. We argue that, despite the differences between olfaction and other sensory modalities, addressing these specific questions will reveal general principles underlying brain function.

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