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A Hierarchy of Crossmodal Odor Associations: Exploring the Role of Pleasantness and Edibility in Odor Crossmodal Associations Across the Senses

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Topics in Cognitive Science

Published online on

Abstract

["Topics in Cognitive Science, EarlyView. ", "\nAbstract\nCrossmodal associations with odors have the potential to aid in odor perception and language. In addition, identifying the dimensions that drive odor crossmodal associations may help understand the critical dimensions underlying odor perception more generally. In the present study, we test the role of odor valence and odor edibility in odor crossmodal associations with two approaches. We first asked participants to rate the strength of sensory associations across vision, audition, texture, and taste for a set of odors. We then asked them to elaborate on their modality‐specific associations via an open response. We found that the strength of crossmodal associations with odors differs across sensory modalities, with audition the weakest, and vision the strongest. Associations were also influenced by odor pleasantness and edibility. Odor associations were stronger for pleasant compared to unpleasant odors, for all modalities except taste. Odor associations with audition and touch were also stronger for inedible than edible odors, whereas odor associations with taste were stronger for edible odors. The open responses again suggested that vision is most strongly linked to odor and audition the least. Our fine‐grained methodological approach provides a nuanced view of the crossmodal associations with odor and what underlies them."]