Fragrance and odor identification is easier when an appropriate color is presented together

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According to the Proust phenomenon by French novelist Marcel Proust odor and/or fragrances offer autobiographical reminders of distant memories. An additional effect to the proust phenomena are odor and color associations. Studies show that when odor and color are presented together they are more easily identifiable and less likely to be discriminated.

Learned Associations

The associations between many colors and odors have origins through natural experiences. Individuals will typically match the smell of strawberries to the color pink or red and how caramel tends to be most commonly associated with brown.

A study published in the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review scientist explored odor–color associations by asking participants to associate specific colors with odors. These studies found consistent mappings grounded in general knowledge such as between the odor of a banana and the color yellow.

Also specific colors in nature cause associations with odors such as death being associated with black and plant life being associated with green.

Color influences odor identification, discrimination, intensity, and even pleasantness. Along with learned associations in odor and color, these associations have both perceptual and semantic components in the process of fragrance/odor identification. Color brightness correlates with perceptual attributes of odors (odors that are more irritating, intense, and unpleasant are associated with brighter colors) and for semantic attributes (more familiar and identifiable odors are associated with more saturated colors).

Heinrich Frieling, a color psychologist and expert for color associations, studies and teaches how colors influence consumerism and why different sensory stimuli can compliment another. Table 1 shows a chart developed by Frieling of colors and the associated odors or tastes as they are used for food packaging and advertising.

Research Studies

A recent cross-cultural study by Levitan showed that people within a culture consistently link colors to odors, but across cultures there are substantial differences, suggesting at least some odor–color associations are learned. Odors are directly linked to colors because odor–color pairs are repeatedly experienced together as in the case of banana odor association with the color yellow color.

Color plays an important role in recognizing odors. In the same study published by the Psychonomic Bulletin & Review a scented solution was appropriately colored (strawberry odor in red water), rather than inappropriately colored (strawberry odor in green water), it is easier to distinguish it from other odors. Similarly, normally colored bacon or cheese is perceived to have a more intense and better-quality smell than bacon or cheese that is colorless or is inappropriately colored blue. Even wine experts are heavily influenced by color in their judgments of wines.

Louise Blackwell, Research Assistant of the Department of Service Industries at Bournemouth University in the United Kindom studied 48 subjects who participated in experiments to investigate the effect of visual cues in identifying odors. The subjects were first instructed to describe the odor of six fruit solutions, four of which were inappropriately colored. Second, they were presented with a series of fruit solutions which varied in odor and color intensity and were asked to rank them in order of odor strength. For the control sets, the odor and color strengths were compatible; in the experimental sets the odor strength and color intensity were conflicting. The results of the first experiment indicate that the identification of fruit odors proves significantly more difficult when the color of the solution is inappropriate and in the second experiment more subjects rank the solutions in the correct order when the color intensity and odor strengths are compatible than when they are conflicting. Visual cues are found to influence odor judgements significantly and, when presented with conflicting stimuli, the visual cues appear to override the olfactory sense and distract the subjects from making the correct assessment.

Color can strongly affect participants' identification of an odor's qualities. Two experiments were conducts by Professor Stevenson of the Department of Psychology in Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He examined whether color influences a more objective measure of odor quality, discrimination. Odor pairs, presented in their appropriate color (strawberry and cherry in red water), an inappropriate color (strawberry and cherry in green water), or uncolored water were presented for discrimination. Participants made significantly more errors when odors were discriminated in an inappropriate color.

References

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