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A number of perplexing phenomena in the area of olfactory/flavour perception may fruitfully be explained by the suggestion that chemosensory mental imagery can be triggered automatically by perceptual inputs. In particular, the disconnect between the seemingly limited ability of participants in chemosensory psychophysics studies to distinguish more than two or three odorants in mixtures and the rich and detailed flavour descriptions that are sometimes reported by wine experts; the absence of awareness of chemosensory loss in many elderly individuals; and the insensitivity of the odour-induced taste enhancement (OITE) effect to the mode of presentation of olfactory stimuli (i.e., orthonasal or retronasal). The suggestion made here is that the theory of predictive coding, developed first in the visual modality, be extended to chemosensation. This may provide a fruitful way of thinking about the interaction between mental imagery and perception in the experience of aromas and flavours. Accepting such a suggestion also raises some important questions concerning the ecological validity/meaning of much of the chemosensory psychophysics literature that has been published to date.

Our food choices and consumption behaviours are often influenced by odour hedonics, especially in the case of those orthonasally experienced aromas (that is, those odours that are food-related). The origins of odour hedonics remain one of the most intriguing puzzles in olfactory science and, over the years, several fundamentally different accounts have been put forwards to try and explain the varying hedonic responses that people have to a wide range of odorants. Associative learning, innate and molecular accounts of odour pleasantness have all been suggested. Here the origins of the hedonic response to vanilla, which is one of the most liked smells cross-culturally, are explored. The history of vanilla’s use in food and medicine is outlined, with a focus on its neurocognitive appeal. While vanilla is one of the most widely liked aromas, it is also rated as smelling sweet to most people. Food scientists are becoming increasingly interested in the possibility that such ‘sweet smells’ could be used to help maintain the sweetness of commercial food products while, at the same time, reducing the use of calorific sweeteners. Such an approach is likely to be facilitated by the low cost of artificial vanilla flavouring (when compared with the high and fluctuating price of natural vanilla pods).

Herbs and spices have undoubtedly fallen in and out of fashion over the centuries. The changing popularity of spices is perhaps easier to explain than that of herbs. After all, the former were often imported from the furthest corners of the globe, often at great expense, and hence were seen as a luxury item. Herbs, by contrast, were an ubiquitous feature of the (English) countryside, found in hedgerows, woods, and fields. Lovage (Levisticum officinale Koch.), which belongs to the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) family, is a perennial plant that grows easily and has an umami-like taste and a celery-like flavour, thus leading to its name as the Maggi plant. Lovage also gives rise to a gentle mouth-tingling gustatory effect due to the presence of ligustilide, a volatile TRPA1 modulator. Charting the history of lovage's use in cooking, this narrative historical review will hopefully help to draw attention to a versatile and flavourful culinary herb that has largely been replaced in recipes by celery and/or parsley.

A study is reported that was designed to investigate the influence of various kinds of sonic accompaniment on consumers’ perception of a high-end luxury sports car. Using a between-participants experimental design, groups of 40 participants viewed a short car ad. The groups heard either classical music, pop music, sound effects, or listened in silence. The results revealed that participants perceived the car’s power, driving excitement and engine technology to be highest when the ad was paired with sound effects. Meanwhile, participants perceived the car to be most elegant and indicated the highest price for the car when the ad was paired with classical music. Those participants who watched the ad in silence rated lowest for all aspects of the car’s characteristics, including indicating the lowest price for the car. Interestingly, the participants admitted that music/sound effects influenced their perception of the advertised luxury sports car. This implies that specially curated sound design may help to highlight specific characteristics of a car.

Bay (laurel nobilis L.) is a popular culinary herb in many parts of the world. It has been suggested that the addition of bay leaves to a dish during (prolonged) cooking delivers a pungent (some would say strong) combination of pine, clove (spicy), floral (lavender), and eucalyptus notes. Often, chefs say that bay leaves add depth to a dish and that something is missing if the leaves are left out, thus suggesting that it may act as a kind of ‘flavour enhancer’. At the same, time, however, other commentators, including a number of chefs and spice experts question what, if anything, bay leaves add to a dish, suggesting that it has no taste/flavour whatsoever. Chefs and recipes also appear divided on the question of whether fresh or dry leaves impart a better, or more intense, flavour. Drying and storage conditions, as well as age, terroir, and seasonal effects (i.e., where, and at what time of year, the leaves were picked) all contribute to the volatile essential oils associated with this ubiquitous herb/spice. Adding to the confusion, in North America, California bay leaf (Umbellularia californica) is often used in place of the European variety (Laurus nobilis L.) despite having a distinct aroma/flavour profile. Any one of these factors may help to explain the marked differences concerning the perceived culinary value of bay in cooking. The point remains, however, that despite being a ubiquitous culinary herb, bay appears to divide popular opinion more than seemingly any other herb/spice.

Objectives: To assess the impact of different types of background music on patients’ anxiety and perceptions in a healthcare setting. Background: An overwhelming number of studies in the West have been conducted on the use of background music in reducing patients’ anxiety and their perception of hospitals. Despite the optimism for Western classical music in such settings, evidence documenting the successful use of this genre of music in waiting rooms across other people groups has, thus far, been inconclusive. Method: A single-blind randomized study in which a total of 303 participants were recruited from both surgery and radiology clinics using a between-groups experimental design. Patients were seated in the waiting room for at least 20 min while music (Western classical, lo-fi) or no music was playing in the background. Participants were then required to complete a questionnaire that consisted of a shortened 6-item State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-6), and eight questions relating to overall perceptions of the hospital. Results: The results from both clinics revealed that patients in the no music condition rated themselves as feeling significantly less anxious than those in either of the two music conditions. Patients’ perceptions of the hospital’s overall service and expectations were higher in the no music condition. Conclusions: Firstly, the choice of background music should match the differing pace of the day; for example, a more upbeat song would better fit the mood of a busy clinic, leading to a more “congruent” atmosphere. Secondly, playing background music in a “task-oriented” and highly charged/anxious environment may increase arousal levels, which in turn could result in negative perceptions of the hospital and an increase in anxiety among patients. Finally, music is a cultural product and music that primes certain beliefs in one culture may not have similar effects among other people groups. Hence, specific curated playlists are necessary to convey “intentions” to different people groups.

We report two experiments designed to investigate whether the presentation of a range of pleasant fragrances, containing both floral and fruity notes, would modulate people’s judgements of the facial attractiveness (Experiment 1) and age (Experiment 2) of a selection of typical female faces varying in age in the range 20–69 years. In Experiment 1, male participants rated the female faces as less attractive when presented with an unpleasant fragrance compared to clean air. The rated attractiveness of the female faces was lower when the participants rated the unpleasant odour as having a lower attractiveness and pleasantness, and a higher intensity. In Experiment 2, both male and female participants rated the age of female faces while presented with one of four pleasant fragrances or clean air as a control. Only the female participants demonstrated a crossmodal effect, with the pleasant fragrances inducing an older rating for female faces in the 40–49-years-old age range, whereas a younger rating was documented for female faces in the 60–69-years-old age range. Taken together, these results are consistent with the view that while the valence of fragrance (pleasant versus unpleasant) exerts a robust crossmodal influence over judgements of facial attractiveness, the effects of pleasant fragrance on judgements of a person’s age appear to be less reliable. One possible explanation for the differing effect of scent in the two cases relates to the fact that attractiveness judgements are more subjective, hedonic, and/or intuitive than age ratings which are more objective, cognitive-mediated, and/or analytic in nature.

Entertaining the bodily senses by means of the deliberate stimulation of the proprioceptive, kinesthetic, and/or vestibular senses/systems has long been the focus of many of the (mechanical) rides found on the fairground and at the theme park. Although the history of kinaesthetic thrills and proprioceptive pleasures stretches back to the turn of the 20th Century, and, despite the growing interest in digital stimulation (e.g. virtual reality, the Metaverse, etc.), little progress has, as yet, been made in terms of effectively stimulating the bodily senses digitally (e.g. in the home environment) as part of a commoditization of multisensory entertainments. Indeed, it may simply not be possible to digitally elicit the total immersion that one experiences in a well-designed theme-park/fairground ride. Nevertheless, approaching that goal will likely require a recognition of the fundamentally multisensory nature of the experience delivered by the unique sensorium that one finds on the working fairground. And, as we will see later, the contribution of the non-bodily senses is something that is often neglected when researchers have studied such bodily sensations in the laboratory, or else foregrounded them in an artistic, setting.

Just as for any other sensory system, researchers have long wanted to discriminate between the sensory discriminative and hedonic aspects of tactile perception. Supporting such a distinction, researchers have, in recent decades, uncovered the existence of a dedicated system of receptors in the hairy skin (C-Tactile, CT, afferents) that appear to be preferentially tuned to pleasant stroking (i.e. caressing) touch. No matter what kind of touch one is talking about, though, it is important to recognize that human perception is fundamentally multisensory, meaning that what we feel, not to mention what we think about the experience, is modulated by the inputs that are available to the other senses. This review summarizes the latest evidence concerning these multisensory contributions to tactile perception focusing, in particular, on the case of affective touch. Given that CT afferents for pleasant touch are far more common in the hairy (as compared to the glabrous) skin, the question is further raised as to whether the relative contribution of the various senses to tactile perception may differ as a function of the skin site stimulated (i.e. glabrous versus hairy skin) or the kind of judgment (sensory-discriminative versus hedonic) that is being made.

A number of personality characteristics have been linked to various aspects of taste (gustation), trigeminal, and olfactory perception. In particular, personality traits have been linked to olfactory sensory thresholds and olfactory identification abilities, as well as to the sensory-discriminative aspects of taste/flavour perception. To date, much of the research in this area has focused on Sensation Seeking (including Experience Seeking, and Openness to Novel Experiences), with the latter being linked to a preference for spicy, and possibly also crunchy, sour, and bitter foods/drinks. Novelty-seeking has also been linked to a preference for salty foods, while anxious individuals appear to enjoy a much narrower range of foods. A bidirectional link has also been documented between taste and mood. Certain of the personality-based differences in taste/flavour perception and food behaviour have been linked to differences in circulating levels of neurotransmitters and hormones in both normal and clinical populations. Taken together, therefore, the evidence that has been published to date supports a number of intriguing connections between personality traits and taste perception/food behaviour., Highlights • Personality characteristics linked to various aspects of taste (gustation), and trigeminal, perception. • Personality traits also linked to olfactory thresholds and identification abilities. • Food research has focused on Sensation Seeking and Openness to Novel Experiences. • Novelty-seeking has also been linked to a preference for salty foods. • Anxious individuals tend to enjoy a much narrower range of foods.

There is undoubtedly a spatial component to our experience of gustatory stimulus qualities such as sweet, bitter, salty, sour, and umami, however its importance is currently unknown. Taste thresholds have been shown to differ at different locations within the oral cavity where gustatory receptors are found. However, the relationship between the stimulation of particular taste receptors and the subjective spatially-localized experience of taste qualities is uncertain. Although the existence of the so-called ‘tongue map’ has long been discredited, the psychophysical evidence clearly demonstrates significant (albeit small) differences in taste sensitivity across the tongue, soft palate, and pharynx (all sites where taste buds have been documented). Biases in the perceived localization of gustatory stimuli have also been reported, often resulting from tactile capture (i.e., a form of crossmodal, or multisensory, interaction). At the same time, varying responses to supratheshold tastants along the tongue's anterior-posterior axis have putatively been linked to the ingestion-ejection response. This narrative review highlights what is currently known concerning the spatial aspects of gustatory perception, considers how such findings might be explained, given the suggested balanced distribution of taste receptors for each basic taste quality where taste papillae are present, and suggests why knowing about such differences may be important.

The “phantasmagoria” is a term that originally referred to the ghost lantern shows first staged in France at the end of the 18th Century by the Belgian inventor and entertainer Étienne-Gaspard Robertson. The question to be addressed in this review concerns the link between the phantasmagoria (defined as a ghostly visual entertainment) and the multisensory sensorium (or sensory overload) of the fairground and even, in several other cases, the Gesamtkunstwerk (the German term for “the total work of art”). I would like to suggest that the missing link may involve the ghost attractions, such as Dr. Pepper's Ghost (first developed at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London in the 1860s), and the Phantasmagoria, that were both promoted in fairgrounds across England in the closing decades of the 19th Century.

Our experience of the world around us is multisensory. Although vision is considered the dominant (spatial) sense, attention is increasingly being paid to the importance of auditory cues in navigating behaviour in everyday life. The sounds associated with preparing and consuming foods and drinks have been shown to play an important role in hedonic perception. Yet, little is known about the extent to which auditory cues influence the behavior of blind or anosmic individuals. In the absence of vision, it is likely that more attention is paid to the sounds associated with a certain food or drink items, in order to assess their sensory qualities (e.g., freshness) and help guide their preparation. Product sounds may compensate for the lack of aroma perception in anosmia. We addressed these assumptions by studying a sample of 401 participants of whom 101 were anosmic and 101 were blind. We included two respective control groups with fully functional sensory modalities (sighted: n = 99 and normosmic: n = 100). All of the participants were asked to indicate the temperature and carbonation of drinks based solely on auditory cues. The results of the study indicate that auditory cues are particularly important for the assessment of drink temperature in blind people and carbonation in anosmic individuals. These supranormal abilities likely develop for adaptive purposes. The present study supplements the discussion concerning sensory compensation in blindness, but as one of a few demonstrates this ability in a practical, everyday context of a highly ecological task.

The pineapple has long been described as the most delicious of fruits. At the same time, however, the English philosopher John Locke once famously argued that it was impossible to describe the taste of this exotic fruit for those (including himself) who had not had the pleasure of sampling one. In recent years, flavour chemists have managed to identify many of the key volatiles giving rise to the distinctive taste/flavour/aroma of this member of the bromeliad family. However, taking a closer look at the history of this most exotic of fruits soon highlights how ‘deliciousness’ is very much a culturally and not merely a chemically-determined construct, contrary to what the molecular gastronomists would have us believe. However, beyond sociocultural factors, it should also be remembered how any given pineapple's flavour profile will likely be influenced by a wide array of factors, including those related to varietal, maturity, storage, etc. This makes any attempt to describe the taste/flavour, or to reconstruct the historical aroma/taste of a pineapple in Locke's day (i.e., in the closing decades of the 17th century), all the more challenging.

A rapidly growing body of empirical research has recently started to emerge highlighting the connotative and/or semiotic meanings that consumers typically associate with specific abstract visual design features, such as colours (either when presented individually or in combination), simple shapes/curvilinearity, and the orientation and relative position of those design elements on product packaging. While certain of our affective responses to such basic visual design features appear almost innate, the majority are likely established via the internalization of the statistical regularities of the food and beverage marketplace (i.e. as a result of associative learning), as in the case of round typeface and sweet-tasting products. Researchers continue to document the wide range of crossmodal correspondences that underpin the links between individual visual packaging design features and specific properties of food and drink products (such as their taste, flavour, or healthfulness), and the ways in which marketers are now capitalizing on such understanding to increase sales. This narrative review highlights the further research that is still needed to establish the connotative or symbolic/semiotic meaning(s) of particular combinations of design features (such as coloured stripes in a specific orientation), as opposed to individual cues in national food markets and also, increasingly, cross-culturally in the case of international brands.

Basic cognitive research can help to explain our response to wine, and the myriad factors that affect it. Wine is a complex, culture-laden, multisensory stimulus, and our perception/experience of its properties is influenced by everything from the packaging in which it is presented through the glassware in which it is served and evaluated. A growing body of experiential wine research now demonstrates that a number of contextual factors, including everything from the colour of the ambient lighting through to background music can exert a profound, and in some cases predictable, influence over the tasting experience. Sonic seasoning - that is, the matching of music or soundscapes with specific wines in order to accentuate or draw attention to certain qualities/attributes in the wine, such as sweetness, length, or body, also represents a rapidly growing area of empirical study. While such multisensory, experiential wine research undoubtedly has a number of practical applications, it also provides insights concerning multisensory perception that are relevant to basic scientists. Furthermore, the findings of the wine research are also often relevant to those marketers interested in understanding how the consumers’ perception of any other food or beverage product can potentially be modified.

The last few years have seen an explosion of interest from researchers in the crossmodal correspondences, defined as the surprising connections that the majority of people share between seemingly-unrelated stimuli presented in different sensory modalities. Intriguingly, many of the crossmodal correspondences that have been documented/studied to date have involved audition as one of the corresponding modalities. In fact, auditory pitch may well be the single most commonly studied dimension in correspondences research thus far. That said, relatively separate literatures have focused on the crossmodal correspondences involving simple versus more complex auditory stimuli. In this review, I summarize the evidence in this area and consider the relative explanatory power of the various different accounts (statistical, structural, semantic, and emotional) that have been put forward to explain the correspondences. The suggestion is made that the relative contributions of the different accounts likely differs in the case of correspondences involving simple versus more complex stimuli (i.e., pure tones vs. short musical excerpts). Furthermore, the consequences of presenting corresponding versus non-corresponding stimuli likely also differ in the two cases. In particular, while crossmodal correspondences may facilitate binding (i.e., multisensory integration) in the case of simple stimuli, the combination of more complex stimuli (such as, for example, musical excerpts and paintings) may instead be processed more fluently when the component stimuli correspond. Finally, attention is drawn to the fact that the existence of a crossmodal correspondence does not in-and-of-itself necessarily imply that a crossmodal influence of one modality on the perception of stimuli in the other will also be observed.

Purpose This study aims to examine whether, and how, perceived product scarcity strengthens the attitude–behavior relation in the case of sustainable luxury products. Design/methodology/approach Three online studies were conducted to examine the moderating role of perceived product scarcity on the attitude–willingness to pay (WTP) relationship in the case of sustainable luxury products. A preliminary study (n = 208) examined the existence of an attitude–WTP gap toward a sustainable luxury product (i.e. a bag). Study 1 (n = 171) investigated the moderating effect of perceived scarcity induced by a limited quantity message on the relationship between consumer attitude and the WTP for a sustainable luxury product (i.e. a pair of shoes). Study 2 (n = 558) replicated these findings using a different product category (i.e. a wallet) while controlling for demographic variables and examined the moderating role of consumer characteristics on the scarcity effect. Findings Consumers’ perceived scarcity for sustainable luxury products positively moderated the relationship between product attitudes and their WTP for the products. The moderating effect of perceived scarcity was significant for consumers regardless of their tendency toward socially responsible consumption and their preference for product innovativeness. Meanwhile, the scarcity effect was influenced by the consumers’ attitude toward the brand of sustainable products. Practical implications This research provides empirical evidence for marketers with clear managerial implications concerning how to immediately promote consumers’ acceptance of sustainable luxury products. Originality/value This study is the first to examine the role of scarcity strategy on strengthening the attitude–behavior relation for sustainable luxury products.

There has long been interest in the nature of the relationship(s) between hue and pitch or, in other words, between colour and musical/pure tones, stretching back at least as far as Newton, Goethe, Helmholtz, and beyond. In this narrative historical review, we take a closer look at the motivations that have lain behind the various assertions that have been made in the literature concerning the analogies, and possible perceptual similarities, between colour and sound. During the last century, a number of experimental psychologists have also investigated the nature of the correspondence between these two primary dimensions of perceptual experience. The multitude of different crossmodal mappings that have been put forward over the centuries are summarized, and a distinction drawn between physical/structural and psychological correspondences. The latter being further sub-divided into perceptual and affective categories. Interest in physical correspondences has typically been motivated by the structural similarities (analogous mappings) between the organization of perceptible dimensions of auditory and visual experience. Emphasis has been placed both on the similarity in terms of the number of basic categories into which pitch and colour can be arranged and also on the fact that both can be conceptualized as circular dimensions. A distinction is drawn between those commentators who have argued for a dimensional alignment of pitch and hue (based on a structural mapping), and those who appear to have been motivated by the existence of specific correspondences between particular pairs of auditory and visual stimuli instead (often, as we will see, based on the idiosyncratic correspondences that have been reported by synaesthetes). Ultimately, though, the emotional-mediation account would currently appear to provide the most parsimonious account for whatever affinity the majority of people experience between musical sounds and colour.

Some dishes are shocking because of what they contain, such as Korean dog stew to many Western diners, or horsemeat to the British. Others are shocking merely because of what they look like, or resemble: The growing popularity of animate dishes in parts of Asia, for example, or the much-publicized Michelin-starred Hong Kong chef Alvin Leung's ‘Sex on the beach’ dessert, fall into the latter category. There is a growing trend amongst contemporary chefs to develop dishes that their diners will most likely find ‘shocking’. Such a practice appears to represent something of a step change from the ‘search for deliciousness’ that lies behind molecular gastronomy or modernist cuisine. Here, we describe a dish (dessert) that was recently introduced onto the menu at Kitchen Theory, inspired by Barbara Smith’s (1969) edible performance art work entitled ‘Ritual Meal’. Consisting of nothing more than rhubarb and a beetroot juice reduction, the dish is shocking solely because of its visual appearance, both its form and the way in which it is served, cue a human organ that has been removed during surgery. Informal reports suggest that this dish constitutes an especially memorable multisensory component of the diner's experience at Kitchen Theory's Gastrophysics Chef's Table.

While the growing global obesity crisis in humans has attracted a great deal of attention from the media and healthcare professionals alike, the rapid increase in weight problems reported amongst pets is now attracting widespread recognition too. In humans, the emerging science of gastrophysics offers a number of concrete suggestions as to how people can be nudged into eating less by means of the enhanced multisensory design of both foods and the environments in which they choose to eat. In this narrative review, the potential relevance of gastrophysics to helping tackle the growing problem of overweight and obese domestic dogs is reviewed. This involves discussion of both the important similarities and difference in the way in which people and their pets perceive food, and the likely role of various product-extrinsic factors on consumption in the two cases. Nevertheless, despite the differences, a number of suggestions for future research are forwarded that may help to address the growing problem of overweight pets, and the behaviours that give rise to it.

This narrative historical review examines the wide range of approaches that has been trialled/suggested in order to reduce the consumption of salt. While sodium is an essential micronutrient, there is widespread evidence that high levels of consumption are leading to various negative health outcomes. This review summarises the evidence relating to the various approaches that have been put forward to date to help reduce salt consumption over the years, while also highlighting a number of important questions that remains for future research. Solutions to reducing salt consumption include everything from the gradual reduction in salt in foods through to the reduction in the number/size of holes in saltshakers (what one might consider a behavioural nudge). Physico-chemical solutions have included salt replacers, such as monosodium glutamate (MSG) through to the asymmetric distribution of salt in processed (e.g., layered) foods. A wide range of sensory approaches to modulating expected and perceived saltiness have also been suggested, including the use of salty aromas, as well as suggesting the use of colour cues, sonic seasoning, and even textural primes. It is currently unclear whether different salty aromas can be combined to increase odour-induced taste enhancement (OITE) effectiveness. In the years ahead, it will be interesting to assess how long such solutions remain effective, as well as whether different solutions can be combined to help reduce salt consumption without having to compromise on taste/flavour