Seeing Odors in Color: Cross-Modal Associations in Children and Adults from Two Cultural Environments

Authors

Nathalie Goubet, Gettysburg CollegeFollow
Karine Durand, Université de Bourgogne Franche-ComtéFollow
Benoist Schaal, Université de Bourgogne Franche-ComtéFollow
Daniel D. McCall, Gettysburg CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2018

Department 1

Psychology

Abstract

We investigated the occurrence and underlying processes of odor–color associations in French and American 6- to 10-year-old children (n = 386) and adults (n = 137). Nine odorants were chosen according to their familiarity to either cultural group. Participants matched each odor with a color, gave hedonic and familiarity judgments, and identified each odor. By 6 years of age, children displayed culture-specific odor–color associations, but age differences were noted in the type of associations. Children and adults in both cultural groups shared common associations and formed associations that were unique to their environment, underscoring the importance of exposure learning in odor–color associations.

Comments

Original version available from the publisher at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096517303259#!

DOI

10.1016/j.jecp.2017.09.007

Recommended Citation

Goubet, Nathalie, Karine Durand, Benoist Schaal, and Daniel D. McCall. "Seeing odors in color: Cross-modal associations in children and adults from two cultural environments." Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 166 (2018): 380-399.