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The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches

A within-participants experiment was conducted in two countries (the UK and Colombia) in order to investigate the matching of shapes to taste words. Comparing the two countries allowed us to explore some of the cultural differences that have been reported thus far solely in terms of people's vi...

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Autores principales: Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro, Alvarado, Jorge A., Velasco, Carlos, Salgado, Carlos J., Hasse, Kendra, Spence, Charles
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569812/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26441757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01382
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author Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro
Alvarado, Jorge A.
Velasco, Carlos
Salgado, Carlos J.
Hasse, Kendra
Spence, Charles
author_facet Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro
Alvarado, Jorge A.
Velasco, Carlos
Salgado, Carlos J.
Hasse, Kendra
Spence, Charles
author_sort Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro
collection PubMed
description A within-participants experiment was conducted in two countries (the UK and Colombia) in order to investigate the matching of shapes to taste words. Comparing the two countries allowed us to explore some of the cultural differences that have been reported thus far solely in terms of people's visual preferences. In particular, we addressed the question of whether properties other than angularity influence shape-valence and shape-taste matching (crossmodal correspondences). The participants in the present study repeatedly matched eight shapes, varying in terms of their angularity, symmetry, and number of elements to one of two words—pleasant or unpleasant and sweet or sour. Participants' choices, as well as the latency of their responses, and their hand movements, were evaluated. The participants were more likely to judge those shapes that were rounder, symmetrical, and those shapes that had fewer elements as both pleasant and sweet. Those shapes that were more angular, asymmetrical, and that had a greater number of elements, were more likely to be judged as both unpleasant and sour instead. The evidence presented here therefore suggests that aside from angularity and roundness, both symmetry/asymmetry and the number of elements present in a shape also influence valence and taste categorizations.
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spelling pubmed-45698122015-10-05 The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro Alvarado, Jorge A. Velasco, Carlos Salgado, Carlos J. Hasse, Kendra Spence, Charles Front Psychol Psychology A within-participants experiment was conducted in two countries (the UK and Colombia) in order to investigate the matching of shapes to taste words. Comparing the two countries allowed us to explore some of the cultural differences that have been reported thus far solely in terms of people's visual preferences. In particular, we addressed the question of whether properties other than angularity influence shape-valence and shape-taste matching (crossmodal correspondences). The participants in the present study repeatedly matched eight shapes, varying in terms of their angularity, symmetry, and number of elements to one of two words—pleasant or unpleasant and sweet or sour. Participants' choices, as well as the latency of their responses, and their hand movements, were evaluated. The participants were more likely to judge those shapes that were rounder, symmetrical, and those shapes that had fewer elements as both pleasant and sweet. Those shapes that were more angular, asymmetrical, and that had a greater number of elements, were more likely to be judged as both unpleasant and sour instead. The evidence presented here therefore suggests that aside from angularity and roundness, both symmetry/asymmetry and the number of elements present in a shape also influence valence and taste categorizations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-09-15 /pmc/articles/PMC4569812/ /pubmed/26441757 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01382 Text en Copyright © 2015 Salgado-Montejo, Alvarado, Velasco, Salgado, Hasse and Spence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Salgado-Montejo, Alejandro
Alvarado, Jorge A.
Velasco, Carlos
Salgado, Carlos J.
Hasse, Kendra
Spence, Charles
The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title_full The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title_fullStr The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title_full_unstemmed The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title_short The sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
title_sort sweetest thing: the influence of angularity, symmetry, and the number of elements on shape-valence and shape-taste matches
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4569812/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26441757
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01382
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