Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

We report a series of experiments designed to investigate shape and sound symbolism, or what is sometimes referred to as crossmodal correspondences, in a range of commercial fruit pulps/juices. In the experiments reported here, British and Colombian participants tasted a number of fruit juices (including pineapple, lulo, guanabana, passion fruit, mango and feijoa) before filling in a series of pencil-and-paper line scales. The results revealed that those juices that were considered sweet and low in sourness were consistently matched with rounder shapes and speech sounds, sounds with a lower pitched, and were generally liked more. Meanwhile, those juices that were rated as tasting sour were consistently matched with angular shapes, sharper speech sounds, sounds with a higher pitch, and were liked less. These results have a number of potentially important implications for the packaging and labeling of fruit juices, especially in those countries where the fruit juices may currently be unfamiliar to consumers. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.10.004

Type

Journal article

Journal

Food Quality and Preference

Publication Date

01/04/2013

Volume

28

Pages

361 - 369