Color Affects Perceived Odor Intensity
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-1990
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance
Abstract
In Experiment 1, some odorous solutions (e.g., strawberry) were rated as smelling stronger when colored (e.g., red) than when colorless. Experiment 2 showed this effect to be due to a perceptual change rather than a response to experimental demand characteristics. Experiment 3 showed that the color-induced increase in odor intensity is not due to subjects' preexperimental experience with particular color-odor combinations, because the increase occurred with novel ones. We conclude that color induces a weak olfactory percept that combines with odorant-induced percepts. The effect may be due to conditioning or may be the result of residual intersensory neural connections left over from infancy.
DOI
10.1037/0096-1523.16.2.391
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Zellner, Debra and Kautz, Mary A., "Color Affects Perceived Odor Intensity" (1990). Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 143.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/psychology-facpubs/143
Published Citation
Zellner, D. A., & Kautz, M. A. (1990). Color affects perceived odor intensity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 16(2), 391–397. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.16.2.391