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Cognitive Neuroscience

Carmel Levitan

Selected Works

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Cross-Cultural Colour–Odour Associations, Jiana Ren, Andy Woods, Kirsten Mckenzie, Lx Ru, Carmel Levitan Oct 2012

Cross-Cultural Colour–Odour Associations, Jiana Ren, Andy Woods, Kirsten Mckenzie, Lx Ru, Carmel Levitan

Carmel Levitan

Associations between colour and odour are likely culturally specific. Exposure to a new culture’s cuisine and food customs however may alter these associations. Here we test for cultural colour–odour association differences and whether exposure to a new culture impacts upon these associations. Participants were given 14 odours and choose from a chart of 36 randomly presented colours which of 3 colours they most associated with each odorant, and which of 3 colours was least associated with each. Data collection was done on Android and Apple iPod devices using Xperiment software (see www.xperiment.mobi). In the first study, we tested equal numbers …


Does Food Color Influence Taste And Flavor Perception In Humans?, Charles Spence, Carmel Levitan, Maya Shankar, Massimiliano Zampini Mar 2010

Does Food Color Influence Taste And Flavor Perception In Humans?, Charles Spence, Carmel Levitan, Maya Shankar, Massimiliano Zampini

Carmel Levitan

In this paper, we review the empirical literature concerning the important question of whether or not food color influences taste and flavor perception in humans. Although a superficial reading of the literature on this topic would appear to give a somewhat mixed answer, we argue that this is, at least in part, due to the fact that many researchers have failed to distinguish between two qualitatively distinct research questions. The first concerns the role that food coloring plays in the perception of the intensity of a particular flavor (e.g., strawberry, banana, etc.) or taste attribute (e.g., sweetness, saltiness, etc.). The …