3 - The Doctrine of Analogous Sensory Attributes and Qualities

Abstract

This chapter discusses the doctrine of analogous sensory attributes and qualities. The Doctrine of Correspondence among sensory attributes states that certain dimensions of sensory experience are similar or even identical in different modalities. Sensations of taste and smell are frequently confused, which may, in part, reflect the fact that they are frequently fused; it is a noteworthy characteristic of odors and tastes to merge into flavors whose olfactory and gustatory components may at times be difficult to distinguish. It is interesting to note that sensations produced by repetitive stimulation of the skin can also vary in phenomenal extent, and they do so in ways that are remarkably similar to sensations of sound. The present concern is not with the entire province of sound symbolism, but with a subset of the counties that it comprises, namely, with the ways that speech sounds can convey sensory meanings, whether visual, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory.