Bridges to Excellence – Worldwide Conference on Qualitative Research
Title:
Synaesthesia: Alchemy of the Senses and Marketing
Luigi Toiati
MENTAL IMAGES
What did you have for breakfast? Coffee or cappuccino, eggs and bacon, yogurt, fruit juice,
something sweet. These images correspond to breakfast in our minds. If we asked the same question
around the world we would find the images meaningless or even unpleasant. Rice and fruit, snakes or
fried insects, cabbage soup.
These are mental images. In our minds, breakfast is represented by images which are different to
those in other people’s minds. All these images derive from influences of the culture we belong to.
“Our images are influenced as much by personal experience as by social context” (Montague).
These images are mobile, not photos of an experience. Try to imagine your cappuccino drunk
directly from a shoe, or a croissant with raw fish. Did you manage? Of course you did, this is because
the brain uses different maps. According to current science they are positioned in different areas of
it, and can be remixed. This is imagination.
INFLUENCEABILITY OF THE IMAGE
What is an image?
Discussing the meaning of the word “image” would take hours. We are familiar with mental, brand,
scientific, and synthesised images. As a convention, we define “image” as something that
“resembles” - by analogy or verisimilitude- something else.
The senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste and also cenesthesia, temperature and pain
(Branthwaite, Cooper), together with language, influence mental images and thus the expectations of
the products we buy.
Let’s take the example of food. Sight predominates, photos in magazines and on packaging
predispose us to imagine the food is delicious.
What reaction would we have if we knew how the food is prepared by expert food stylists? The
golden finish of a roast is obtained with boat varnish, steam is normally cigarette smoke.
The drops of moisture on fruit and vegetables come from vehicle waterproofing or liquid silicone. “Ice
cream with syrup is often made with balls of lard or mashed potato decorated with synthetic oils or
something strange and highly toxic, but nice to look at”. (Enrico Remmert- Slow Food 2007.
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If you want a dark brown salami for only $39.95 you can get one from Fake Food in Colorado Spring.
A plate of fake spaghetti costs less than $60 in the Japanese catalogue, Iwasaki Images.
“In fact, for every type of food to be immortalised, whether for packaging , an advert or a cookery
book, what we see is fake. Just as in many other aspects of current culture, food seems to have lost
its principle function. In image culture, it doesn’t matter if it’s edible. What matters is if it is well
described, represented or spectacularised”. (id).
Instead of saying man is what he eats, it would be more correct to say he is what he thinks he eats.
Language in turn influences the senses and modifies our mental images, and thereby our
expectations.
“When written down, shit doesn’t smell;…we don’t receive any smell but only the abstract sign of
repugnance”. (Barthes).
This is also illustrated by the story of the old man who goes to buy a packet of cigarettes, comes out
of the tobacconist all happy, looks at the packet and reads “smoking causes impotence”. He is
confused for a minute and then goes back and asks the tobacconist timidly “Can I have the cancer
ones, please?”
Let’s do another test. It is one thing to say” grilled squid with salad” and another to say “ a salad of
squid perfectly grilled on a wood fire, with thin slices of crisp pale-green chicory and succulent petals
of mashed tomato sprinkled with a rich thick dressing of balsamic vinegar.” Is it enough to explain the
influenceability of mental images? Commercial language, for example, conditions the image of what
we are about to buy.
“All conceptual systems” according to Whorf “are relative and depend on language”.
IMAGINATION AND IMAGE
We must distinguish between imagination and image in order to understand what a mental image
consists of. In Greek ‘eikasìa’ (which ‘icon’ comes from) is the faculty of imagining or rather creating
images by generating them through association. ‘Phantasia’ (imagination) is instead the aesthetic
processing of mental images. It produces not only visual mental images but also tactile, acoustic,
olfactory and kinesthetic ones (Ferrante).
Aristotle maintained that it is impossible to think without images.
If our mental images were only reproductions of objects we could represent only things we have
seen, configured and fixed once and for all, whereas our interior images are not so. According to
Kosslyn visual representations are generated not simply fished out of a file.
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Man has the capacity to turn, to put in motion, to assemble configurations of many new objects
mentally represented. Kosslyn gives a very effective example.
“It is easy” he says, “to represent a horse. We’ve all seen a horse, at least a reproduction of one.
Let’s try to represent it as it jumps over the roof of a house. Probably we have never seen such a
thing happen, but we wouldn’t have any difficulty creating an image of it. How is this possible?
Because an image is created by putting together different parts, not simply projecting a photograph
filed away onto a screen.”
“Neuromarketing first hit the headlines a few years ago, when neuroscientists at the Bailor Institute in
Houston used fMRI to monitor brain response during a test of taste and brand preferences for Pepsi
vs. Coke. They found that in a blind product test (where preference for Pepsi vs. Coke was balanced)
only those parts of the brain relating to sensory judgement were active. However when respondents
were told what they were drinking, preferences switched in Coke’s favour and parts of the brain (the
hippocampus) associated with emotional response also became active.”
(David Penn: In search of the buy button – Research World Jan. 2008)
The work of neuroscientists like Damasio and Le Doux emphasised the role of emotion as a driver
(not a consequence) of decision-making.
NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROMARKETING: FOR AND AGAINST
FOR
Positively, neuromarketing tries to get to the origin and nature of emotions. According to scientists like
Steve Quartz, who teaches at Caltech, “knowing where and how a particular image is being stored in
the brain, we can accurately assess the memorability of a commercial message or particular
advertisement…fMRI will help break down the distinction between the emotional and intellectual life”
( Jos Havermans, Dissecting Emotions, Reseach World, June 2005)
Using a scanner we can measure the mental activity
of someone watching TV, or doing the
shopping, observing where blood flows in the brain and which areas are involved.
“We can make quantitative matrixes for emotions…the data also provide insights into the kind of
connection and whether or not a product connection is emotional or rational” (id.)
As we will see better, we are already talking about synaesthesia: “that is, a sensory experience or
mental image is expressed or felt in terms of another” (A. Branthwaite, P. Cooper).
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I will give you some brief examples.
FMRI, used to study human olfaction, indicated that unpleasant and pleasant odours produce
different activation patterns, and adaptation of odour perception is identified through brain activation.
(Hong-ming Chen)
Moreover, fMRI demonstrated too (Sobeln, Shiino et al.) that “olfactory stimulation participates in the
emotion and behaviour processes”.
Some supermarkets in England are successfully trying out “fresh” fruit and vegetable smells in the
vegetable and frozen sections. Japanese firms spray essences which increase the efficiency of the
employees.
Some molecules present in pheromones -used in perfumery- might influence human emotions, but
not necessarily drive them, as also shown by PET scans (positron emission tomography).
“Modern neuroscientific understanding combined with advances in technology have made their
application to market research possible.”
(David Penn, cit.))
All this is called “multi-sensorial marketing”.
AGAINST
Let’s look at some of the resistance to neuromarketing.
In an entertaining article (Was Karl Popper right?, Research World, September 2007)
Andrew Jeavons refers to Popper’s theory that every theory- such as a particular area of the brain
being responsible for buying- is only valid if there is a way to disprove. The theory that all swans are
white can be disproved by finding a black swan. He says:
“Howard Moskwitz introduced me to a good term for this concept that the brain is the explanation of
behaviour: Neuromythology. The name says it all –the idea that being able to explain behaviour by
referring to neurological structure is a myth...What we see now is a new iteration of phrenology, this
time with very expensive machines, complex statistical software and an odour of science…The fact is
that our understanding of the brain and cognition is very primitive. It’s clear from microencephaly that
the brain has organising principles that we do not understand. Localisation of function,
neuromythology, the foundation of market research’s flirtation with fMRI, are naïve canards at best. It
only takes one black swan…”
A BRIDGE
“Most of the exponents of neuromarketing are now quick to admit that their techniques are not
alternatives, but complements to conventional research – either quantitative or qualitative”.(David
Penn, cit.). I agree completely.
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Some scientists recognise that if some areas of the brain are activated in the process of buying, they
are not specifically predisposed for this.
Some of neuromarketing’s discoveries are useful to us as researchers, in particular those linked to
synaesthetic aspects, where senses interact.

Colours modifiy the perception of smells and tastes: this helps those who work in packaging, or
those studying the approach to food by those with olfactory defects (Osterbauer, Calvert).

Music influences human moods: British Airways is trying out music which “identifies” the
company, to play in its waiting lounges. Starbuck’s has bought specific Bob Dylan songs for the
same reason.

A very serious psycho-physiological study made by the Kinsey Institute showed that men’s
cologne has a positive effect on female sexual arousal during erotic fantasy stimulated by an
erotic video-clip!
However there is the risk of violating the intimacy of the interviewees, rummaging around in their
deepest recesses. Discovering that a toothpaste activates the hippocampus, or Betz cells, is like
hunting flies with a Winchester and then hanging them on the wall as trophies.
For many, including me, nowadays it is more important to study the relationship between mind and
body.Some disciplines are starting to to study this.
A new field of research, Psycho-neuroendocrine immunology (Pnei) studies the relationship of the
brain to the rest of the body. The connections between neurons can be modified by culture and
learning. Looking at a work of art or an advertisement, we can feel so emotionally involved that we
identify with it. This phenomenon is known as empathy, and is the base of a synaesthetic process of
socially shared emotions.
An important discovery is the plasticity of the brain. In a pianist, for example, the area of the brain
predisposed to the movement of the fingers expands and “colonizes” ajoining areas of the cerebral
cortex. In the theory of “mindfulness” or full awareness, thought and mental activity can change the
brain (Begley, Goleman). Buddhist meditation demonstrates this “neuroplasticity”, by making the
happiness circuits more active (R.Davison). It doesn’t create new synapses, (connections between
neurons) but it changes the actual function of the cerebral areas. If an area is trained, it can be used
for doing something else. The mind can be used to treat the brain through neuroplasticity, even to
treat autism or Alzheimer’s. Parallel senses can synaesthetically help the one that is lacking.
Companies and consumers are already discovering, for example, to paraphrase Lévi-Strauss, that
beautiful food is not necessarily good food, and people are increasingly aware about eating food that
is good for them.
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Market research is being enriched by new stimuli. Once again D. Penn offers an important
observation. Conventional tools, both qualitative and quantative involve, above all, our cognitive,
analytical, decision-making brain rather than our emotional, intuitive one. But both interact, and it is
this frontier zone that interests us:
“Where pre -cognitive/emotive impulses emerge, blinking, into the light of consciousness, as
verbalised thoughts and feelings… allowing us to make sense of images and phrases even before we
give them conscious consideration.”
(David Penn, cit.)
Penn identifies a very promising direction in the new field of cognitive linguistics “which suggests that
much of our thought is enabled by metaphors. Metaphors may seem to consist of words, but they are
actually neural connections which create (automatic) meaning in our unconscious mind, below the
conscious linguistic surface. The most powerful are primary metaphors, which are established –
usually in our early life experience – by conflation of sensory experience and emotional judgement.
Simple examples are that intimacy correlates with proximity, affection with warmth, etc.
If we focus on the pre-cognitive mental shortcuts, such as metaphor, that allow people to construe
(emotional) meaning without having to rationalise, the study of emotion will become much richer and
more rewarding.”
(David Penn, cit.)
Metaphors evoke direct emotional responses, which link to
images (often abandoned) in the
memory.Metaphors link to our most powerful emotions, because emotional memory is highly relevant.
“However, tests also suggest that positive emotional judgement does not, of itself, create successful
brands. Where there is low brand engagement, but high brand share, it may be because the brand is
offering an attractive set of product features, price, deals, etc. but is not creating engagement with its
customers. Brands can “buy” market share – through, for example, deals and promotion – but real
engagement is harder to achieve and usually requires sustained communications activity to build it”.
(David Penn, cit.)
According to Neil Mc Phee, “words do not speak for themselves” but their meaning only comes to life
through the researcher’s A/I (Analysis and Interpretation).
SYNAESTHESIA
In my experience in clinical rehabilitation and as a researcher, I have found the point of contact
between mind and body and all the elements linked to them (neuroplasticity, cognitive linguistics) in
synaesthesia.
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Synaesthesia is the branch of neuroscience which studies anomalies of perception: subjects who
have a multi-coloured vision by listening to a voice, or seeing numbers and letters in colour, hearing a
sound by looking pictures, etc.
Where in the brain synaesthesia lies is not a matter for us: “the answer to synaesthesia will not be a
‘where, but a ‘what,”. (Cytowic). So, what is synaesthesia? Etymologically, it is the simultaneous
functioning, the “correspondence” of the senses, according to Ramachandran. While you are looking
at, and listening to me, you can hear someone coughing nearby, you look at the beautiful blonde
colleague two tables away to the right, you’re hungry, you can perceive smells, or the pen or
tablecloth under your fingers, without directly concentrating.
More specifically synaesthesia means perceiving a sense through another or others. I’ll give you an
example. A housewife tells you her washing is “white”, notice, white, when crumpling it to her cheek,
it feels soft, touching it, it “crunches” under her fingers and sniffing it she’ll say “it smells white”. As
you can see sight alone does not cover the idea of “white”. Up until now I haven’t come across
anyone tasting a sheet and saying it’s white but it wouldn’t surprise me.
The synaesthesia we apply is, above all, provoked, stimulated to support the natural predisposition in
all of us.
Through metaphor, the transfer of meaning, synaesthesia ”expresses verbally a physical interaction”.
Metaphor aims to bring out what we have inside, transforming it.
“The acquisition of metaphor relies not on a capacity for verbal abstraction…but on physical
interaction with the world “ (Cytowic).
We commonly say “hot colours, boiling with passion, to be so hungry as to be unable to see straight.”
Alan Branthwaite reminds us that we use an average of 6 metaphors a minute!
BENEFITS
Synaesthetic prompts can help obtain effective results for delineating mental images –also
comparative ones– of brands, and supply marketing with operative information, i.e. about packaging,
food and beverages, fragrances and so on.
They contribute in fact to constructing a holographic image of a product, because the whole is even
more clearly composed of single parts and viceversa.
If a perfume generically evokes tombs, creaking, whisky, intense cold, maybe it would be most
suitable for “goth” adolescents.
The use of Synaesthesia is effective in identifying emotions in their initial stage, before they are
influenced by their cultural environment and rational processing.
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The individual, in fact, is conditioned by a cerebral zone (N.Bonini), the insula, which sets off an
emotion before it is transformed into a sensation, and later into a verbalisation or gesture of
acquisition or refusal.
In addition, synaesthesia helps in supporting the lack of verbal language for sensory experiences –
eg: the influence of packaging/advertising words on perceived flavour - and filling the gaps between
naïve consumer language and expert language (Blender/Flavourist).
THE PROCEDURE
There are three levels of Synaesthesia:
1. Subliminal: the total sensations of brands, including those delivered unconsciously
2. Cross-sensory: sensations experienced through one modality which resonate in other sensory
channels
3.
Semantic: verbal descriptions of one or more sensory modalities triggered by sensations in
another (metaphor)
The research procedure I use to elicit synaesthetic experiences in clinical and qualitative research
fields is as follows:
- Each session has a physical sense as a starting theme. (Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, Taste), or as
a stimulus.
In the warm-up phase, projective (verbal) and elicitation (non verbal) stimuli are administered to
familiarize the topic and bring out sensations or emotional memories i.e. about a product that have
been removed or abandoned - (Subliminal Synaesthesia).
- Then a physical stimulus is introduced, corresponding to the sense in question, through material that
is perceptible sensorially: essences, pictures, sounds, surfaces, food.
- First impressions are gathered, possibly resorting to projective stimuli again (What does this smell
make you think of?) - ( Cross-sensory Synaesthesia).
For a product, you associate it
with other experiences. What does its taste, packaging,
smell/perfume, consistency make you think of? Using tactile stimuli as a support as well, showing
colours, surfaces, different smells,etc.
-
Next a sensory cross-over stimulus is used, eg: “What colour is this smell? What sound has it
got? If we could feel it under our fingers, what would it be like? If we ate it, what taste would it
have? – (Semantic Synaestesia).
For a product you can refer to its perceptible qualities, crossing them over. E.g. What sound has this
taste got? If I touch it, what will it feel like? What colour would it have? This helps the experience with
the use of metaphor.
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SOME RESULTS
We will now try to go into more detail about the senses and their intercrossing declensions.
Sight
Colours rather than images encourage synaesthetic combinations (yellow has a melancholy smell,
rough and soft like a sunflower).
Hearing
Evokes colour (a blue sound), and works well with taste (a sweet sound), less well with smell and
touch.
Cenesthetically, some sounds give the shivers (think of chalk on a blackboard), others make you
jump, startle (a bell rung suddenly).
Smell
Is a determining factor in product choice: it evokes colours (a stale smell is yellow, that of vinegar is
red); sounds, touch and taste (the smell of onion is acrid, sour, or sickly). However, it seems smell
functions less with hearing.
Touch
Evokes both the sense of temperature (a warm or cold touch) and body language: an object when
touched “escapes… flies away.. slips away”.
It also works with sight, hearing and taste: for example, rough surfaces can suggest a sound “mellow,
strident”, or “a sour taste of vinegar”.
Taste
Perceptions of taste work by analogy : “a” is like “b”.
The “crack” of a biscuit when broken informs us that this biscuit is crumbly, and therefore fresh in
analogy with the relationship: fresh-crumbly, soft-non fresh. It is crumbly “like the earth”= natural.
But also by metaphor: “a” is “b”.
“it tastes of love…it has the sound of childhood…it smells red”.
We are all synaesthetes but we don’t realise it.
CONCLUSIONS
Synaesthesia helps the emotions to emerge and allows greater expression of emotions, towards a
common language.
“Synaesthesia can lead to a common language through sensorial metaphors and to a language not
based on impressions but on expression” (Peter Cooper).
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“Synaesthesia is emotional…not an idea, but an experience” (Cytowic).
Applied to our routine experience as qualitative researchers, synaesthesia
is a bridge for
communication.
“Our mind leaves us ,as well as its memories. Our heart no, it is like a jewel case, all the memories
remain.
It is not from Shakespeare but from an unsighted elderly person, who died two years ago.
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BARTHES, R. – SADE, FOURIER, LOYOLA, LE SEUIL, PARIS
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QUALITATIVE, BUDAPEST 2001
CAROSELLA, A., BOTTACCIOLI, F. – MEDITAZIONE, PSICHE E CERVELLO (PNEI, PSYCHO-NEURO
ENDOCRINO IMMUNOLOGY)
COOPER, P. - QUALITATIVE ASCENDING: HARNESSING ITS TRUE VALUE, ESOMAR, BOSTON, 2002
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