Odors affect color perception
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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One of the visual functions, color perception, is altered by the sense of smell. Although vision and olfaction are different functional mechanisms, the information from them is combined in the brain to reflect a complete picture of the environment. This "picture" combines, among other things, the influences of one information on the other. We are not referring to such a neurological phenomenon as synesthesia: we are talking about the normal, usual influence of the olfactory function on the visual function, of the visual function on the auditory function, etc.
Specialists from the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge set up an experiment involving 24 volunteers of different sexes aged 20-57 years. Before the start of the study, they were asked not to use on the body means that can leave any odors. The experiment itself took place in a room devoid of any sensory stimulants. After a certain time, the room was filled for a few minutes with a certain aroma. It could be a coffee, caramel, cherry, lemon or mint scent, as well as a neutral - so-called "clean" smell. Each of the aromas was reintroduced five times.
Additionally, a monitor was set up in the room that displayed a square of one or another color shade. The square was to be made gray by manipulating the color settings of the screen, similar to working in a graphics application. Each of the participants in the experiment had access to two color grids containing color ranges (yellow to blue and green to red). By gradually changing colors, participants had to make the square gray. Simultaneously with their work, the odor in the room was changed. In the end, it was found that perceptions of the "grayness" of the square changed depending on the odor present. For example, if the room had a coffee or cherry scent, participants added reddish or brownish tones to the square, even though they were sure it was just gray. The caramel scent added yellow-brownish tones to the gray, and the lemon scent added yellowish-greenish tones to the gray. It was only in the absence of any scent - in a neutral state - that the square was truly gray.
The fact that olfaction or olfactory imagination influences the function of color perception is interesting and surprising. However, in order to achieve purity of the experiment, experts advise the researchers next time to use smells not so pleasant and not associated with any color associations. After all, it is possible that in this case, color perception was due to olfactory imagination - the ability to transform and "think up" color and shade. In fact, the psychology of color perception is a very complex mechanism that requires careful and lengthy further study.
For details of the study, you can go to source page