Tasting shapes and words

We report a series of quick and simple paper-and-pencil demonstrations illustrating the reliable crossmodal correspondences that people have between commercially-available food and drink items and both visually-presented shapes and nonsense words. The foodstuffs tested in this study included still and sparkling water, Brie cheese and cranberry juice, and two kinds of chocolate. Participants were given paper-based line scales, anchored at either end with a nonsense word or simple outline shape. They were instructed to taste the foodstuffs and to indicate whether their perception of the flavour matched more one or other of the items anchoring the scales, and then mark the appropriate point on the scale. The results highlight the fact that certain of these foodstuffs (sparkling water, cranberry juice, and Maltesers - chocolate-covered malt honeycomb) were better associated with angular shapes and high-pitched meaningless words, such as ‘kiki’ and ‘takete’, whose pronunciation requires sharp inflection of the mouth. By contrast, still water, Brie, and Caramel Nibbles (chocolate-covered caramel) were all more strongly associated with rounded shapes and softer sounding, lower-pitched pseudo-words, such as ‘bouba’ and ‘maluma’. These results, which build on the classic literature on ‘sound symbolism’, have both theoretical and applied implications: On the one hand, they demonstrate that the phenomenon of sound symbolism extends beyond the visual modality, by showing that speech sounds carry meaning in the domain of flavour, and in terms of the oral-somatosensory attributes of foodstuffs as well. As a consequence, these results may also be useful on an applied level in terms of helping companies to design novel brand names and graphics for the packaging of their food and drink items that best connote the likely attributes of the product within.     

Sounds sweet,sounds bitter: How the presence of certain sounds in a brand name can alter expectations about the product’s taste

This paper examines how certain speech sounds within a brand name can alter expectations about the product’s taste. Across two studies we demonstrate that the presence of voiced (b, d, g, z & v) vs. voiceless (p, t, k, s & f) obstruents (speech sounds produced when airflow is obstructed in the oral cavity) in a chocolate’s brand name can alter its expected taste as bitter vs. sweet. We propose this is because voiced obstruents are typically of low frequency (frequency code hypothesis), contain harsh acoustic qualities and evoke negativity (due to aerodynamic difficulties in their pronunciation). In a third study, we extend these findings to show, using the Brand Personality Scale (BPS), that the presence of voiced (vs. voiceless) obstruents makes brand names' sound more masculine, rugged and tough and less honest, charming, glamorous, wholesome, cheerful and sentimental. Research linking consonant sound symbolism (specifically voiced obstruents) and product attributes is sparse. Most research in this field links vowels withproduct attributes, sounds with shapes and music (or musical notes) with taste attributes. We contribute by extending these findings to voicing (and associated harshness) and the sweet-bitter continuum of the expected taste.     

Assessing the shapes and speech sounds that people associate with chocolate samples varying in cocoa content

We report a series of three experiments designed to highlight the reliable crossmodal correspondences that exist between the cocoa content of various commercially-available chocolate products and both visually-presented shapes and nonsense words. The chocolates tested in this study included three kinds of Lindt chocolate and a milk chocolate truffle (‘Koko’ brand from Cadbury). Participants were given paper-based line scales, anchored at either end with either a nonsense word or simple outline shape. They tasted the chocolates and indicated whether their perception of the flavor better matched one or other of the items anchoring the scales by marking the appropriate point along the scale. The results demonstrate that certain chocolates were more strongly associated with angular shapes and ‘sharp’ inflected, high-pitched meaningless words, such as ‘tuki’ and ‘takete’. Specifically, Lindt extra creamy milk chocolate (30% cocoa) and Cadbury’s Koko milk chocolate truffles were both more strongly associated with rounded shapes and softer sounding, lower-pitched pseudo-words, such as ‘maluma’. By contrast, Lindt 70% and 90% cocoa chocolates were more strongly associated with sharper (angular) shapes and sounds, such as ‘takete’. These results demonstrate that the phenomenon of sound symbolism extends beyond the visual modality into the domain of flavor perception where, in particular, speech sounds carry meaning in terms of the taste/flavor of chocolates. These results have implications for the development of novel brand names for new products (such as, in this case, chocolate) that best connote the product’s likely sensory attributes.     

What’s in a name? The effects of sound symbolism and package shape on consumer responses to food products

In the global market, consumers are exposed to multiple brand names in unfamiliar languages. Even meaningless words can trigger certain semantic associations. This phenomenon is known as sound symbolism, i.e., the direct link between a sound and a meaning. Sound symbolism helps consumers to form product expectations based on unfamiliar brand names. Product expectations can be also formed based on various elements of packaging design, including colours, shapes and materials. This study investigated the effects of unfamiliar brand names (“Asahi” vs. “Ramune”), package shapes (round vs. angular) and product types (muesli cookie vs. butter cookie) varied in perceived healthiness (low vs. high) on perceived product healthfulness, product evaluation, taste expectations and purchase intention. General health interest (GHI) was used as the moderating variable. The results showed that package shape and product type significantly influenced the perceived product healthfulness of the two experimental products. Brand name alone did not affect consumer responses. However, the congruent combination of product shape and brand name (round “Ramune” cookie) was preferred to incongruent combinations. Furthermore, the congruent combinations (“Ramune” butter cookie and “Asahi” muesli cookie) were expected to taste better and were more likely to be purchased compared to incongruent combinations. These results suggest that congruency between the type of product, brand name, and package design is important for creating a successful brand strategy. The study also showed that the effects of sound symbolism and congruency on perceived product healthfulness are more pronounced for consumers with low interest in healthy eating. However, further research is needed to generalise our results to other product groups.     

A bittersweet symphony: Systematically modulating the taste of food by changing the sonic properties of the soundtrack playing in the background

We report an experiment designed to investigate the consequences of manipulating the pitch of the background auditory stimulation on the taste of food. The participants in the present study evaluated four pieces of cinder toffee while listening to two auditory soundtracks, presented in a random order. One soundtrack was designed to be more crossmodally (or “synaesthetically”) congruent with a bitter-tasting food whereas the other soundtrack was designed to be more congruent with a sweet-tasting food instead. The participants rated each sample using three computer based line scales: One scale was anchored with the words bitter and sweet. The second scale required participants to localize the taste/flavour percept elicited by the food (at the front vs. back of their mouth). The third scale involved participants giving a hedonic evaluation of the foodstuff. As expected, the cinder toffee samples tasted while listening to the presumptively ‘bitter’ soundtrack were rated as tasting significantly more bitter than when exactly the same foodstuff was evaluated while listening to the ‘sweet’ soundtrack instead. These results provide the first convincing empirical demonstration that the crossmodal congruency of a background soundtrack can be used to modify the taste (and presumably also flavour) of a foodstuff.     

Seeing sweet and choosing sour: Compensatory effects of typeface on consumers’ choice behavior

The present research included two field studies investigating, firstly, the effects of round and angular typefaces on taste expectations and, secondly, how such expectations may have downstream effects on naturalistic consumer choice. A taste experiment conducted at a science festival asked participants (N = 125) to rate the expected and actual sweetness and sourness of beer served from plastic cups labelled with either angular or round typeface. Effects of typeface were found on both taste expectations and perceived taste, but in opposite directions; participants rated the expected sourness of a beer as higher in the round (vs. angular) typeface condition, whereas they rated perceived sourness as lower in the round compared to the angular typeface condition. A follow-up field study conducted at a beer bar tested whether different typefaces on a beer board would affect actual beer choices. Data consisted of beer transactions (N = 1,952) and included the monetary amount, and the specific style, and size of beer purchased. The results showed that average transaction amount was lower in the round (vs. angular) typeface condition, and that customers purchased more sour beer options in this condition. These findings support a crossmodal compensation account, and suggest that round typefaces could increase choices of contrasting sour products. Hence, marketers may want to consider how typefaces can either enhance or diminish certain tastes.     

Does the weight of the dish influence our perception of food?

In many categories, weight has been found to influence how users perceive and appraise products. However, to date, the influence of the weight of the dish in which food is served on people’s perception has not been studied empirically. This exploratory study was therefore designed to investigate whether the weight of the container would exert a significant influence on people’s sensory and hedonic responses to the food consumed from it. Three bowls, identical except for the fact that they were different weights, were filled with exactly the same yoghurt. Consumers evaluated the yoghurt samples from the three bowls holding them with one hand, one at a time. Participants rated flavor intensity, density, price expectation, and liking using 9-point likert scales. Significant effects were found for all attributes except for flavor intensity. The effects on both density and price expectation ratings were highly significant.These findings are potentially relevant for designers and those working in restaurants, the hospitality sector, and food production, since the design and choice of dishes (or packages) of various weights could potentially be used to help enhance and/or modify the way in which consumers perceive and experience the food consumed from them.     

Dark vs. light drinks: The influence of visual appearance on the consumer’s experience of beer

We report evidence concerning how the visual appearance of a drink (dark vs. light pale/amber beer) can influence the consumer’s tasting experience. Two experiments were designed to study the effect of visual appearance on people’s hedonic and sensory judgments of beer. Importantly, the beers were indistinguishable in terms of their flavor when tasted in the absence of visual cues.Participants rated the same beer (pale or dark, depending in which group they were assigned) under blind conditions as having more body than when tasted under sighted condition (regardless of whether it was pale or dark; see Experiment 1).When the participants evaluated the expectations and tasting experience of the two different beers under sighted conditions (pale vs. dark), after tasting, those who preferred pale beers, rated the darker beer as tasting sweeter than those who usually prefer other types of beers, such as dark ones (see Experiment 2). Prior tasting, when asked which beer they thought was the most expensive, the majority of the participants chose the darker beer. Furthermore, after tasting both beers, participants reported being willing to pay up to 6% more on average for the darker beer as compared to the pale one.