In this experiment, I had the pleasure to collaborate with the awarded chocolatier, Mr. Dominique Persoone and the well known Prof. Charles Spence, a guru in matters of food and senses.
Here, participants initially had to pair each of three chocolates (one very bitter, one very sweet and one in between), with one of three soundtracks (each one produced to be congruent with each of the existent chocolates). In a second part of the study, we assessed how these soundtracks were able to modulate the sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate's taste. This means that each chocolate was tasted in silence and while listening to each soundtrack. And the participants had to rate if the perceived taste of the chocolate changed when stimulated by these soundtracks.
The results demonstrate that what people hear exerts a significant influence over their rating of the taste of the chocolate. And when the results were analysed based on the participants’ individual music-chocolate matches (rather than the average response of the whole group), more robust Crossmodal effects were revealed. We believe that these results add value to the existent research in the field of Multisensory Perception, and may provide useful insights concerning the future design of Multisensory tasting experiences.
You can access the full publication by clicking here (not open access).
Below you can listen to each of the soundtracks and appreciate a few images of the experimental process (chocolates samples tests, experimental booths and pilot studies, respectively).
Sweet Soundtrack
Here, participants initially had to pair each of three chocolates (one very bitter, one very sweet and one in between), with one of three soundtracks (each one produced to be congruent with each of the existent chocolates). In a second part of the study, we assessed how these soundtracks were able to modulate the sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate's taste. This means that each chocolate was tasted in silence and while listening to each soundtrack. And the participants had to rate if the perceived taste of the chocolate changed when stimulated by these soundtracks.
The results demonstrate that what people hear exerts a significant influence over their rating of the taste of the chocolate. And when the results were analysed based on the participants’ individual music-chocolate matches (rather than the average response of the whole group), more robust Crossmodal effects were revealed. We believe that these results add value to the existent research in the field of Multisensory Perception, and may provide useful insights concerning the future design of Multisensory tasting experiences.
You can access the full publication by clicking here (not open access).
Below you can listen to each of the soundtracks and appreciate a few images of the experimental process (chocolates samples tests, experimental booths and pilot studies, respectively).
Sweet Soundtrack
Neutral Soundtrack
Bitter Sountrack
The soundtracks were produced by Tim Vets @ IPEM, UGent. Co-produced by Felipe Reinoso Carvalho, Sander de Keer and Tomas Serrine. Mastered by Felipe Reinoso Carvalho @ Aclab (2013).