The Influence of Color on the Perception of Taste of People with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The object of the study is people with autism spectrum disorders, the subject is the expectations of taste when they perceive a certain color. The aim is to experimentally test the hypothesis that due to the specifics of sensory processing and the lack of multisensory integration, their crossmodal taste–color correspondences differ from the associations of neurotypical people not only in the structure and occurrence of individual associations, but also in the richness, cognitive significance and semantics of choice. The experiment involved 20 respondents with autism spectrum disorders (7 men and 13 women) aged 18 to 20 years. Their responses were compared with the results of a control group (N=20) with the same socio-demographic characteristics. Experimental stimuli in the form of a bar package had five different colors (green, yellow, red, pink and blue) and were shown to participants on a computer screen. The experiment showed that when perceiving the color of the product packaging, people with autism spectrum disorders have significantly different expectations of taste compared to neurotypical participants. In the most cases their associations of color with taste are not conventional and logical (this type of associations dominate in the control group), but creative – expressive and hidden. The associations revealed in the experimental group often have an emotional nature, are less dependent on the context and have a more free character. The results obtained can be used in clinical practice, in the education system and in the activities of social institutions.