Assessing the role of color cues and people’s

1. Assessing the Role of Color Cues and
People’s Beliefs about Color-Flavor
Associations on the Discrimination
of the Flavor of Sugar-Coated
Chocolates
Carmel A. Levitan, Massimiliano
Zampini, Ryan Li and Charles Spence
Chamse.oxfordjournals.org
Norihiro Takeda
1Color-Flavor Associations

2. INTRODUCTION
Color-Flavor Associations 2

3. Purpose
Flavor
Color
Olfactory
Gustatory
3Color-Flavor Associations

4. Experiments with Smarties
• 8 different colors
• 2 flavors (milk chocolates & orange flavored)
• Taste 2 Smarties
• Judge whether their flavor was the same or
different
• Sighted and blindfolded
Color-Flavor Associations 4

5. Predictions before Two Experiments
1. Discrimination accuracy (whether
same/diff.) should be worse when the
participants are blindfolded
2. The perceived distinctiveness of the orange
flavor should decrease when the participants
are blindfolded
3. The judgment on 2 Smarties should depends
on the participants prior beliefs
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6. EXPERIMENT 1
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7. Methods
• Participants
– 16 untrained undergraduates from the University
of Oxford
– 8 men & 8 women
– Mean age = 20 years
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8. Methods
• Apparatus & Materials
– Questionaire
1. How familiar do you consider yourself with
Smarties?(1-5)
2. Smarties come in 8 different colors. Do you
think you can taste the difference between
them? Please give the details.
– Smarties produced for the UK market
– 3 different colors (orange, red, green)
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9. Procedure
• 2 experimental sessions (sighted/blind folded)
on separate days
• 5 trials with each of 6 possible color pairings
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x 5 trials

10. Procedure
eat 1st Smarty
rinse the mouth out
with the water
eat 2nd Smarty
answer
“same”or”different”
rate how confident they
were in their judgment
(1=least confident,
5=most confident)
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11. Results
• Answers for the questionnaire
– 13/16 (81%) were fairly familiar with S
– 10 were rated as believing that the orange S were
distinctive
– 6 were rated as believing that certain non-orange S
were distinctive
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12. Results
• Analysis on the
experiment
– Less accurate when
blindfolded
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13. Results
• Prior beliefs (non-
orange S might have
different flavor)
influenced on the flavor
discrimination
– More accurate in the
blindfolded condition
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14. Results
• Participants were more confident of their
responses when they could see S than when
blindfolded
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15. Discussion on Experiment 1
• People’s specific color-flavor associations
significantly affected their flavor
discrimination responses
• A number of the participants incorrectly
believed that certain non-orange S had a
distinctive flavor
• Others were apparently aware that all non-
orange S tasted the same
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16. EXPERIMENT 2
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17. Methods
• Participants
– 336 untrained students of Oxford Uni. (not
necessarily UK nationals)
• Apparatus & Materials
– Questionnaire
1. How familiar do you consider yourself to be with
S (1-5)?
2. S come in 8 different colors. Have you ever
noticed any colors tasting different?
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18. Methods
• Apparatus & Materials
– S produced in the UK
– Distinctive orange flavor
– S produced in Germany
– Same flavor in each
color
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19. Methods
• Procedure
– red & orange tasted different (N=108)
– red & orange tasted same (N=108)
– 2 oranges tasted different (N=60)
– 2oranges tasted same (N=60)
• Responds
1. The 2 Smarties definitely tasted the same
2. Probably tasted the same
3. Probably tasted different
4. Definitely tasted different
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20. Results
• 200/336 (60%)
considered to be fairly
familiar with S
• 0 = definitely tasting the
same
• 10 = definitely tasting
different
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21. GENERAL DISCUSSION
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22. • Food coloring can exert a powerful influence
over people’s flavor discrimination
performance
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