‘A perfumed brain’. Crossmodal Correspondences in Taste and Smell Perception and Memory.

Human experiences of objects and events are formed through the perception and integration of information coming from different sensory modalities. Importantly, research has shown that even information not directly related to the object itself, such as that produced by the contest where the stimulus is presented, can contribute to modulate its mental representation. This might be the case, for example, of the interaction between the evaluation of a given food and the characteristics of the plate where it is served. Despite of these observations, the presence of multisensory interactions in taste and smell perception and memory have been much less investigated by neuroscientific research as compared to interactions between other sensorial aspects of the environment. Nevertheless, this knowledge is important in order to define a more comprehensive and accurate model of human multisensory integration. Here we concentrate on this issue by investigating a number of different topics. In particular, in chapter II we investigated if the colour, weight, texture or shape of a container label can differently modulate the evaluation of some characteristics of the liquid served in it. In chapter III we investigated crossmodal integration in the processing of odours under both ecological and computer controlled experimental conditions. In chapter IV we investigated olfactory memory by using a novel experimental paradigm. In this study we also compared the performance of Alzheimer patients, neurologically normal elderly and young individuals. The results of the studies reported here clearly suggests that similar, although slightly different mechanisms affect multisensory interactions and memory for odours, food and beverage perception as compared to other sensorial aspects of the environment.