Multisensory perception: How sight, sound and touch shape what we taste, with Charles Spence, PhD
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What is multisensory perception and why does it matter for taste?
Think about the sweetness of a strawberry or the satisfying crunch of a potato chip. What makes these things taste so good? You might think it's just sugar, salt, and fat, but research suggests that it's more than that. The color of the strawberry, the sound of the potato chip crunch, even the place where you're eating can all contribute to how you experience each bite. Psychologists have long studied the senses individually. But in the real world, sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch are constantly interacting. Today we're going to talk to a psychologist who studies multi-sensory perception about how our senses work together to shape how we perceive and taste the world. So, how does the brain combine information from different senses to create our global perceptions?
What are some of the most surprising ways that our senses interact? And how can you use this knowledge to eat healthier, enjoy more food, and otherwise improve your life? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life. I'm Kim Mills. My guest today is Dr. Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, where he heads the cross-modal research laboratory. He's published hundreds of academic papers on multisensory perception. He also brings his knowledge out of the lab and into the world. He's consulted for many multinational companies on product design, packaging and branding.
He's worked with chefs to design foods that maximally stimulate the senses. And he's helped car companies design multisensory warning signals for drivers. Dr. Spence has won many awards for his work, including a 2008 Ignoble Prize for research that makes you laugh and then makes you think. He's also author of the books Gastrophysics, The New Science of Eating, and Sense Hacking: How to Use the Power of Your Senses for Healthier, Happier Living. Doctor Spence, thank you for joining me today.
Thank you.
So I just mentioned that you direct the cross-modal research laboratory at Oxford. So let's start there. What does cross-modal mean in your research?
So as a psychologist who studies the senses, um sight, sound, touch, taste and smell, uh spend most of my time thinking about how the senses relate one to another. And the sort of two words that we use uh regularly are cross-modal on the one hand and multi-sensory on the other. Some people, many people use those terms interchangeably, uh, but to those who've spent their lifetimes thinking about the ways that the senses can interact, multi-sensories I take to mean when things kind of come together into one unified gestalt or whole. So maybe the flavor of food has taste and it has smell, texture, all of those things come together into one unified flavor, which is multi-sensory. I contrast that with sort of cross-modal cases.
Cases where, for example, if I suddenly slapped my hands together, that sudden late loud noise will make the lights seem brighter wherever you are. You don't integrate that clapping sound with the lights, but nevertheless the sounds cross-modally affect visual perception. So the things kind of stay separate and yet one influences the other. Um and over the last thirty years I've spent yet a lot of time thinking about these uh cross modal and multi-sensory effects. Starting in the lab and then going out into the real world to see where they apply and then coming back into the lab again to study them some more.
All right, well we'll get around to talking about that, but I want to start by noting that most of your work has focused on food and taste. Why is eating such a powerful example of multisensory perception?
So I guess uh eating and drinking is something that we all do. Uh so it's a shared interest and something we all do several times a day, uh normally. Um, and it is probably one of the most multi sensory things that we do. I mean, watching TV, that's got sort of sound and it's got sight. Uh, but smell of vision's never gone very far.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is multisensory perception and why does it matter for taste?
0:01–5:12
2
How do sight, sound, and touch combine to change the flavor of food?
5:12–10:16
3
What is “sonic seasoning” and how does altering chip crunch sounds affect liking?
10:16–14:49
4
How do plate design, cutlery, and lighting influence our eating experience?
14:49–18:25
5
Why does eating while watching TV increase food intake and how can it be used mindfully?
18:25–23:25
6
What makes Dubai‑style chocolate so Instagram‑mable and viral?
23:25–28:09
7
How is AI reshaping food design, from visual concepts to flavor pairing?
28:09–33:42
8
What are the future research questions in multisensory gastronomy?
33:42–38:23
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Speaking of Psychology
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