Programme

14th International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication
"Linking Senses: Cross-Modality in Perceptual Domains across Cultures"

December 7, 2019
Laboratory for Perceptual and Cognitive Systems,
Faculty of Computing, University of Latvia

Programme (PDF)

8:30 - 9:00 Registration and Coffee (Innocent PRO / illy)

Aula Magna

9:00 - 9:30 Intro

9:30 - 10:30 Keynote 1:
Prof. Charles Spence (Oxford University, UK)
Crossmodal correspondences: Looking for links between sound symbolism & synaesthesia, & their application to multisensory marketing

10:30 - 11:00 Coffee / Degustations and Tastings (Valmiermuiža)

11:00 - 13:00 parallel sessions

13:00 - 14:00 Lunch / Coffee, Degustations and Tastings (Innocent PRO / illy)

Aula Magna

14:00 - 15:00 Keynote 2:
Prof. Baingio Pinna (Sassari University, Italy)
Eating with the eyes: On the role of shape and color

15:00 - 15:30 Coffee / Degustations and Tastings (Bliss Gelato)

15:30 - 17:00 Parallel Sessions

UL MS Center of Innovation, Kalpaka boulevard 4

17:00 - 18:00 Reception / Degustations and Tastings by Valmiermuiža brewery

18:00 - 19:00 Keynote 3 and Robert Blumberg Distinguished Lecture in Cognitive Science 2019 by
Prof. Asifa Majid (University of York, UK)
Linking Senses across Languages and Cultures

20:00 Conference dinner (to paid separately)

Keynotes:

Linking Senses across Languages and Cultures
Prof. Asifa Majid
University of York, UK

Across cultures, there are substantial differences in how languages package information into words and grammar. A recent large-scale study of 20 diverse cultures has shown that even for simple sensory stimuli—shapes, smells, sounds—languages differ. Do these different ways of talking about the senses influence how people think about the senses? Or do diverse languages interface with a universal bedrock of cognition? The answer seems to depend on the specific sensory correspondences studied. Relying on data from the cross-modal correspondences featuring smell and sound, I argue that some aspects of cognition may be more malleable to language and culture than others.

Eating with the eyes: On the role of shape and color 
Prof. Baingio Pinna
Sassari University, Italy

General purpose of this work is to study how shape and color influence taste and flavor perception. Main questions are: What is the color and the shape of a flavor? How do children and adults associate geometrical shapes and colors to the main flavors? How is food appreciation related to shapes and colors of eating utensils? Does this association change with the age? Do shapes and colors of plates influence the quality and sense of taste of what we eat? What is the evolutionary meaning of shape and color in food choice? The answer to these questions have shown a clear cross-modal relationship between vision, teste and smell, implying that before eating with our mouths we eat with the eyes. Our results are interpreted in evolutionary terms according to the notion of expressive quality (cf. Maluma & Takete, Köhler, 1929), as suggested by Gestalt Psychologists."

Crossmodal correspondences: Looking for links between sound symbolism & synaesthesia, & their application to multisensory marketing
Prof. Charles Spence
Crossmodal Research Laboratory, University of Oxford, UK
 
“Are lemons fast or slow?”; “Is carbonated water round or angular?”; Most people agree on their answers to these questions. These are examples of correspondences, that is, the tendency for a feature, in one sensory modality, either physically present, or merely imagined, to be matched (or associated) with a feature, either physically present, or merely imagined, in another modality. Crossmodal correspondences appear to exist between all pairings of senses, and have been shown to affect everything from people’s speeded responses to their performance in unspeeded psychophysical tasks. While some correspondences are culture-specific (e.g., the correspondence between angularity and bitterness), others are likely to be universal (e.g., the correspondence between auditory pitch and visual or haptic size, for example). Intriguingly, some animals (e.g., chimpanzees), as well as young infants, appear to be sensitive to certain crossmodal correspondences. In this talk, I will discuss a number of the explanations that have been put forward to account for the existence of crossmodal correspondences. I will also examine the relationship between crossmodal correspondences and sound symbolism, and tackle the thorny question of whether crossmodal correspondences should be thought of as a kind of synaesthesia that is common to us all.

Spence, C. (2011). Crossmodal correspondences: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73, 971-995.
Spence, C. (2012). Managing sensory expectations concerning products and brands: Capitalizing on the potential of sound and shape symbolism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22, 37-54.
Spence, C. (2012). Synaesthetic marketing: Cross sensory selling that exploits unusual neural cues is finally coming of age. The Wired World in 2013, November, 104-107.