Zarlino, one of the most important music theorists of the XVI century, described the minor conson... more Zarlino, one of the most important music theorists of the XVI century, described the minor consonances as ‘sweet’ (dolci) and ‘soft’ (soavi) (Zarlino 1558/1983, in On the Modes New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983). Hector Berlioz, in his Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration (London: Novello, 1855), speaks about the ‘small acid-sweet voice’ of the oboe. In line with this tradition of describing musical concepts in terms of taste words, recent empirical studies have found reliable associations between taste perception and low-level sound and musical parameters, like pitch and phonetic features. Here we investigated whether taste words elicited consistent musical representations by asking trained musicians to improvise on the basis of the four canonical taste words: sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Our results showed that, even in free improvisation, taste words elicited very reliable and consistent musical patterns: ‘bitter’ improvisations are low-pitched and legato (without interruption between notes), ‘salty’ improvisations are staccato (notes sharply detached from each other), ‘sour’ improvisations are high-pitched and dissonant, and ‘sweet’ improvisations are consonant, slow, and soft. Interestingly, projections of the improvisations of taste words to musical space (a vector space defined by relevant musical parameters) revealed that, in musical space, improvisations based on different taste words were nearly orthogonal or opposite. Decoding methods could classify binary choices of improvisations (ie identify the improvisation word from the melody) at performance of around 80%—well above chance. In a second experiment we investigated the mapping from perception of music to taste words. Fifty-seven non-musical experts listened to a fraction of the improvisations. We found that listeners classified with high performance the taste word which had elicited the improvisation. Our results, furthermore, show that associations of taste and music go beyond basic sensory attributes into the domain of semantics, and open a new venue of investigation to understand the origins of these consistent taste–musical patterns.
IntroductionMusic is known to elicit strong emotions in listeners, and, if primed appropriately, ... more IntroductionMusic is known to elicit strong emotions in listeners, and, if primed appropriately, can give rise to specific and observable crossmodal correspondences. This study aimed to assess two primary objectives: (1) identifying crossmodal correspondences emerging from music-induced emotions, and (2) examining the predictability of music-induced emotions based on the association of music with visual shapes and materials.MethodsTo achieve this, 176 participants were asked to associate visual shapes and materials with the emotion classes of the Geneva Music-Induced Affect Checklist scale (GEMIAC) elicited by a set of musical excerpts in an online experiment.ResultsOur findings reveal that music-induced emotions and their underlying core affect (i.e., valence and arousal) can be accurately predicted by the joint information of musical excerpt and features of visual shapes and materials associated with these music-induced emotions. Interestingly, valence and arousal induced by music...
The piece plays with the utopic idea of "smelled trill" and a potential
"multisensory attentional... more The piece plays with the utopic idea of "smelled trill" and a potential "multisensory attentional trill" oscillating between an attentional focus on music, smell, or both, as well as with the effect of odor on music perception and viceversa. Spectators are provided with fans aromatized with two different smells in opposite sectors of their surface. which allows to present two smells in quick alternance to the nose (other devices may be used, for instance two perfumery strips held in angle in the hand). A dark, opaque smell and a bright smell are to be used as the alternating smells.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 14, 2022
Quorum Sensing is a gastrosonic experience for three guests. A soup is served in a glass tablewar... more Quorum Sensing is a gastrosonic experience for three guests. A soup is served in a glass tableware designed from an experiment of associations of shapes and materials with musical emotions. The actions of each diner produce vibrations applied to the body of the others. The conceptual framework of this experience is multiple: relating the human experience with that of bacteria, tactilely increasing the sense of presence in commensality, sensory design of tableware and a reflection on the use of cell phones and tablets at the table. In the future, the experience may function as an experimental device to investigate these aspects as well as the impact of vibrations on the perception of food.
The aim of the present work was to study the temporal effect of music on sensory perception and o... more The aim of the present work was to study the temporal effect of music on sensory perception and on the emotional changes while drinking coffee. Two different commercial filter coffees were evaluated by a group of 48 consumers using the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method. The description was performed in silence and also while listening to two different musical fragments: one with a "sweet" connotation and the other with a "bitter" one. Under the same conditions (drinking coffee with and without musical stimuli), a different group of 72 consumers evaluated their perceived emotions (joy, fear, neutral, rejection, disgust, surprise, sadness and anger) by Temporal Dominance of Emotions (TDE). Data was analyzed by dominance curves and by ANOVA and MANOVA of the durations of dominance (for emotions and sensations). Coffee perception, in both cases, was modified by the musical stimuli. The duration of dominance of bitter was increased in the presence of "bitter" music, while it decreased with the "sweet" music. Moreover, the sweet attribute was practically not chosen for describing the coffee on its own, but its choice and duration as dominant increased while listening to the "sweet" musical fragment. Music had a larger impact on the perceived emotions. The "sweet" music was related to the emotion of joy, which was accompanied by surprise and also some sadness when drinking coffee (regardless of the type of coffee being drunk). The "bitter" music was linked to the emotions anger and fear. The effect of "sonic seasoning" and translation of emotions with a familiar product was observed.
The special dossier Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-Estar covers advances in research in ubiquitous m... more The special dossier Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-Estar covers advances in research in ubiquitous music with an emphasis on its impact in the field of gastronomy and health. One aspect of the intersection between music and health is the promotion of well-being, including the prevention of disease and the improvement of people's moods. In the current context of the pandemic, the potential of making group music needs greater investment in research. In the convergence between three aspects of research - interaction design, the study of food and the study of musical practices - we propose a new field of research, gastrosonics. This volume aims to highlight the innovative aspects of the ubimus proposals, focused on increasing well-being or linked to the field of gastronomy. O dossiê especial Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-estar abrange os avanços da pesquisa em música ubíqua com ênfase no seu impacto no campo da gastronomia e da saúde. Um aspecto da interseção entre música e saúde é o fom...
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGCHI International Workshop on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction, 2017
We present three digital systems: the Augmented Glass, the Bone-Conduction Hookah, and the sound ... more We present three digital systems: the Augmented Glass, the Bone-Conduction Hookah, and the sound installation T2M, designed for displaying sound and taste stimuli, with applications in research on crossmodal taste-sound interactions, multisensory experiences and performances, entertainment and health.
Several studies have examined how music may affect the evaluation of food and drink, but the vast... more Several studies have examined how music may affect the evaluation of food and drink, but the vast majority have not observed how this interaction unfolds in time. This seems to be quite relevant, since both music and the consumer experience of food/drink are time-varying in nature. In the present study we sought to fix this gap, using Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS), a method developed to record the dominant sensory attribute at any given moment in time, to examine the impact of music on the wine taster’s perception. More specifically, we assessed how the same red wine might be experienced differently when tasters were exposed to various sonic environments (two pieces of music plus a silent control condition). The results revealed diverse patterns of dominant flavours for each sound condition, with significant differences in flavour dominance in each music condition as compared to the silent control condition. Moreover, musical correspondence analysis revealed that difference...
Purpose – This paper aims to extend current understanding concerning the cross-modal corresponden... more Purpose – This paper aims to extend current understanding concerning the cross-modal correspondences between sounds and tastes by introducing new research tools and experimental data to study associations and their reflections between music and taste. Design/methodology/approach – The experiment design addresses the multidisciplinary approach by using cultural, chemical and statistical analysis methods. Findings – The paper provides further evidence that exposure to the “sweet” or “sour” musical pieces influences people’s food-related thinking processes and behaviors. It also demonstrates that sweet or sour elements in the music may reflect to actual sweetness (as measured by sugar content) and sourness (as measured by organic acid content) of foods developed in association with music carrying similar taste characteristics. Research limitations/implications – The findings should be replicated and expanded using larger consumer samples and wider repertoires of “taste music” and depen...
Anais do Simpósio Brasileiro de Computação Musical (SBCM 2019), 2019
Reliable crossmodal correspondences between basic tastes and music features have been found in re... more Reliable crossmodal correspondences between basic tastes and music features have been found in recent studies [1,2]. In this work, we explore associations between scales, chords and tastes. Several of these elementary musical structures show non-random patterns of matching with basic tastes. Moreover, their aggregate dyadic consonance [3] anti-correlates with the relative frequency of their matching to bitter taste.
Zarlino, one of the most important music theorists of the XVI century, described the minor conson... more Zarlino, one of the most important music theorists of the XVI century, described the minor consonances as ‘sweet’ (dolci) and ‘soft’ (soavi) (Zarlino 1558/1983, in On the Modes New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1983). Hector Berlioz, in his Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration (London: Novello, 1855), speaks about the ‘small acid-sweet voice’ of the oboe. In line with this tradition of describing musical concepts in terms of taste words, recent empirical studies have found reliable associations between taste perception and low-level sound and musical parameters, like pitch and phonetic features. Here we investigated whether taste words elicited consistent musical representations by asking trained musicians to improvise on the basis of the four canonical taste words: sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Our results showed that, even in free improvisation, taste words elicited very reliable and consistent musical patterns: ‘bitter’ improvisations are low-pitched and legato (without interruption between notes), ‘salty’ improvisations are staccato (notes sharply detached from each other), ‘sour’ improvisations are high-pitched and dissonant, and ‘sweet’ improvisations are consonant, slow, and soft. Interestingly, projections of the improvisations of taste words to musical space (a vector space defined by relevant musical parameters) revealed that, in musical space, improvisations based on different taste words were nearly orthogonal or opposite. Decoding methods could classify binary choices of improvisations (ie identify the improvisation word from the melody) at performance of around 80%—well above chance. In a second experiment we investigated the mapping from perception of music to taste words. Fifty-seven non-musical experts listened to a fraction of the improvisations. We found that listeners classified with high performance the taste word which had elicited the improvisation. Our results, furthermore, show that associations of taste and music go beyond basic sensory attributes into the domain of semantics, and open a new venue of investigation to understand the origins of these consistent taste–musical patterns.
IntroductionMusic is known to elicit strong emotions in listeners, and, if primed appropriately, ... more IntroductionMusic is known to elicit strong emotions in listeners, and, if primed appropriately, can give rise to specific and observable crossmodal correspondences. This study aimed to assess two primary objectives: (1) identifying crossmodal correspondences emerging from music-induced emotions, and (2) examining the predictability of music-induced emotions based on the association of music with visual shapes and materials.MethodsTo achieve this, 176 participants were asked to associate visual shapes and materials with the emotion classes of the Geneva Music-Induced Affect Checklist scale (GEMIAC) elicited by a set of musical excerpts in an online experiment.ResultsOur findings reveal that music-induced emotions and their underlying core affect (i.e., valence and arousal) can be accurately predicted by the joint information of musical excerpt and features of visual shapes and materials associated with these music-induced emotions. Interestingly, valence and arousal induced by music...
The piece plays with the utopic idea of "smelled trill" and a potential
"multisensory attentional... more The piece plays with the utopic idea of "smelled trill" and a potential "multisensory attentional trill" oscillating between an attentional focus on music, smell, or both, as well as with the effect of odor on music perception and viceversa. Spectators are provided with fans aromatized with two different smells in opposite sectors of their surface. which allows to present two smells in quick alternance to the nose (other devices may be used, for instance two perfumery strips held in angle in the hand). A dark, opaque smell and a bright smell are to be used as the alternating smells.
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), Jul 14, 2022
Quorum Sensing is a gastrosonic experience for three guests. A soup is served in a glass tablewar... more Quorum Sensing is a gastrosonic experience for three guests. A soup is served in a glass tableware designed from an experiment of associations of shapes and materials with musical emotions. The actions of each diner produce vibrations applied to the body of the others. The conceptual framework of this experience is multiple: relating the human experience with that of bacteria, tactilely increasing the sense of presence in commensality, sensory design of tableware and a reflection on the use of cell phones and tablets at the table. In the future, the experience may function as an experimental device to investigate these aspects as well as the impact of vibrations on the perception of food.
The aim of the present work was to study the temporal effect of music on sensory perception and o... more The aim of the present work was to study the temporal effect of music on sensory perception and on the emotional changes while drinking coffee. Two different commercial filter coffees were evaluated by a group of 48 consumers using the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method. The description was performed in silence and also while listening to two different musical fragments: one with a "sweet" connotation and the other with a "bitter" one. Under the same conditions (drinking coffee with and without musical stimuli), a different group of 72 consumers evaluated their perceived emotions (joy, fear, neutral, rejection, disgust, surprise, sadness and anger) by Temporal Dominance of Emotions (TDE). Data was analyzed by dominance curves and by ANOVA and MANOVA of the durations of dominance (for emotions and sensations). Coffee perception, in both cases, was modified by the musical stimuli. The duration of dominance of bitter was increased in the presence of "bitter" music, while it decreased with the "sweet" music. Moreover, the sweet attribute was practically not chosen for describing the coffee on its own, but its choice and duration as dominant increased while listening to the "sweet" musical fragment. Music had a larger impact on the perceived emotions. The "sweet" music was related to the emotion of joy, which was accompanied by surprise and also some sadness when drinking coffee (regardless of the type of coffee being drunk). The "bitter" music was linked to the emotions anger and fear. The effect of "sonic seasoning" and translation of emotions with a familiar product was observed.
The special dossier Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-Estar covers advances in research in ubiquitous m... more The special dossier Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-Estar covers advances in research in ubiquitous music with an emphasis on its impact in the field of gastronomy and health. One aspect of the intersection between music and health is the promotion of well-being, including the prevention of disease and the improvement of people's moods. In the current context of the pandemic, the potential of making group music needs greater investment in research. In the convergence between three aspects of research - interaction design, the study of food and the study of musical practices - we propose a new field of research, gastrosonics. This volume aims to highlight the innovative aspects of the ubimus proposals, focused on increasing well-being or linked to the field of gastronomy. O dossiê especial Ubimus, Gastrossônica e Bem-estar abrange os avanços da pesquisa em música ubíqua com ênfase no seu impacto no campo da gastronomia e da saúde. Um aspecto da interseção entre música e saúde é o fom...
Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGCHI International Workshop on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction, 2017
We present three digital systems: the Augmented Glass, the Bone-Conduction Hookah, and the sound ... more We present three digital systems: the Augmented Glass, the Bone-Conduction Hookah, and the sound installation T2M, designed for displaying sound and taste stimuli, with applications in research on crossmodal taste-sound interactions, multisensory experiences and performances, entertainment and health.
Several studies have examined how music may affect the evaluation of food and drink, but the vast... more Several studies have examined how music may affect the evaluation of food and drink, but the vast majority have not observed how this interaction unfolds in time. This seems to be quite relevant, since both music and the consumer experience of food/drink are time-varying in nature. In the present study we sought to fix this gap, using Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS), a method developed to record the dominant sensory attribute at any given moment in time, to examine the impact of music on the wine taster’s perception. More specifically, we assessed how the same red wine might be experienced differently when tasters were exposed to various sonic environments (two pieces of music plus a silent control condition). The results revealed diverse patterns of dominant flavours for each sound condition, with significant differences in flavour dominance in each music condition as compared to the silent control condition. Moreover, musical correspondence analysis revealed that difference...
Purpose – This paper aims to extend current understanding concerning the cross-modal corresponden... more Purpose – This paper aims to extend current understanding concerning the cross-modal correspondences between sounds and tastes by introducing new research tools and experimental data to study associations and their reflections between music and taste. Design/methodology/approach – The experiment design addresses the multidisciplinary approach by using cultural, chemical and statistical analysis methods. Findings – The paper provides further evidence that exposure to the “sweet” or “sour” musical pieces influences people’s food-related thinking processes and behaviors. It also demonstrates that sweet or sour elements in the music may reflect to actual sweetness (as measured by sugar content) and sourness (as measured by organic acid content) of foods developed in association with music carrying similar taste characteristics. Research limitations/implications – The findings should be replicated and expanded using larger consumer samples and wider repertoires of “taste music” and depen...
Anais do Simpósio Brasileiro de Computação Musical (SBCM 2019), 2019
Reliable crossmodal correspondences between basic tastes and music features have been found in re... more Reliable crossmodal correspondences between basic tastes and music features have been found in recent studies [1,2]. In this work, we explore associations between scales, chords and tastes. Several of these elementary musical structures show non-random patterns of matching with basic tastes. Moreover, their aggregate dyadic consonance [3] anti-correlates with the relative frequency of their matching to bitter taste.
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"multisensory attentional trill" oscillating between an attentional focus on music, smell, or both,
as well as with the effect of odor on music perception and viceversa.
Spectators are provided with fans aromatized with two different smells in opposite sectors
of their surface. which allows to present two smells in quick alternance to the nose
(other devices may be used, for instance two perfumery strips held in angle in the hand).
A dark, opaque smell and a bright smell are to be used as the alternating smells.
"multisensory attentional trill" oscillating between an attentional focus on music, smell, or both,
as well as with the effect of odor on music perception and viceversa.
Spectators are provided with fans aromatized with two different smells in opposite sectors
of their surface. which allows to present two smells in quick alternance to the nose
(other devices may be used, for instance two perfumery strips held in angle in the hand).
A dark, opaque smell and a bright smell are to be used as the alternating smells.