Abstract
Cross-sensory correspondences can reflect crosstalk between aligned conceptual feature dimensions, though uncertainty remains regarding the identities of all the dimensions involved. It is unclear, for example, if heaviness contributes to correspondences separately from size. Taking steps to dissociate variations in heaviness from variations in size, the question was asked if a heaviness-brightness correspondence will induce a congruity effect during the speeded brightness classification of simple visual stimuli. Participants classified the stimuli according to whether they were brighter or darker than the mid-gray background against which they appeared. They registered their speeded decisions by manipulating (e.g., tapping) the object they were holding in either their left or right hand (e.g., left for bright, right for dark). With these two otherwise identical objects contrasting in their weight, stimuli were classified more quickly when the relative heaviness of the object needing to be manipulated corresponded with the brightness of the stimulus being classified (e.g., the heavier object for a darker stimulus). This novel congruity effect, in the guise of a stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effect, was induced when heaviness was isolated as an enduring feature of the object needing to be manipulated. It was also undiminished when participants completed a concurrent verbal memory load task, countering claims that the heaviness-brightness correspondence is verbally mediated. Heaviness, alongside size, appears to contribute to cross-sensory correspondences in its own right and in a manner confirming the far-reaching influence of correspondences, extending here to the fluency with which people communicate simple ideas by manipulating a hand-held object.
Highlights
In everyday life, people comment on the darkness, heaviness, and roundness of a sound, the sharpness of a taste, and the darkness, heaviness, and thickness of a perfume.1 With such features normally being linked to a different modality than the one to which they are being applied here, it seems that stimuli encoded in different sensory domains can share some of the same qualities.Atten Percept Psychophys (2020) 82:1949–1970Brightness,2 heaviness, sharpness, and thickness are feature dimensions that appear to be aligned with each other in a specific way, with stimuli encoded in different domains able to share their relative positioning on the dimensions
The evidence comes in the form of a correspondence-induced congruence effect, wherein participants can classify a visual stimulus for its relative brightness more quickly when the heaviness and/or size of the response key needing to be manipulated to register their classification decision corresponds with the level of brightness of the visual stimulus
Participants were quicker to classify a relatively dark visual stimulus when this required them to communicate their classification decision by manipulating the heavier + bigger of two response keys
Summary
People comment on the darkness, heaviness, and roundness of a sound, the sharpness of a taste, and the darkness, heaviness, and thickness of a perfume. With such features normally being linked to a different modality than the one to which they are being applied here, it seems that stimuli encoded in different sensory domains can share some of the same qualities (see Deroy, Crisinel, & Spence, 2013, for a review relating to odor).Atten Percept Psychophys (2020) 82:1949–1970Brightness, heaviness, sharpness, and thickness are feature dimensions that appear to be aligned with each other in a specific way, with stimuli encoded in different domains able to share their relative positioning on the dimensions (see Walker & Walker, 2016). People comment on the darkness, heaviness, and roundness of a sound, the sharpness of a taste, and the darkness, heaviness, and thickness of a perfume.. People comment on the darkness, heaviness, and roundness of a sound, the sharpness of a taste, and the darkness, heaviness, and thickness of a perfume.1 With such features normally being linked to a different modality than the one to which they are being applied here, it seems that stimuli encoded in different sensory domains can share some of the same qualities (see Deroy, Crisinel, & Spence, 2013, for a review relating to odor). For the correspondence between auditory pitch and visual brightness, for example, it would be the modality-independent concepts of elevation and brightness that are aligned.4 This means that any domain-specific features feeding into these concepts are able to engage with the elevation-brightness correspondence For the correspondence between auditory pitch and visual brightness, for example, it would be the modality-independent concepts of elevation and brightness that are aligned. This means that any domain-specific features feeding into these concepts are able to engage with the elevation-brightness correspondence
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