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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Olfactory Context Dependent Memory: Direct Presentation of Odorants
Published on: September 18, 2018
Chemosensory cross-modal stroop effects: congruent odors facilitate taste identification
Theresa L White1, John Prescott
1Department of Psychology, Le Moyne College, 1419 Salt Springs Road, Syracuse, NY 13214, USA. whitetl@lemoyne.edu
Abstract:
In order to explore the cross-modal cognitive associations between smell and taste, a chemosensory analogue of the Stroop task (Stroop 1935) was developed. Fourteen participants were presented with an odorant and a tastant and asked to identify the tastant as "sweet" or "sour" by pressing 1 of 2 buttons as quickly as possible. Participants were faster to name the taste when it was presented with an odor that was congruent (e.g., strawberry/sweet) than with an incongruent odor (e.g., strawberry/sour). These results support the concept of a high level of cognitive integration between the senses of smell and taste and illustrates occasions of interference between information arising from different sensory systems.
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