Cross-modality priming between odors and odor-congruent words.
It is well known that the Stroop effect is subject to influence by same-modality primes, but the possibility of cross-modal priming effects is unclear. Smell is a fundamental sensory system that is assumed to have potent cross-modality priming effects. We might expect the presence of a specific odor to interfere with performance on Stroop cards containing odor-congruent words. Forty participants, half of whom were primed with an unpleasant odor and half with a pleasant odor, were examined with modified Stroop cards containing pleasant and unpleasant descriptive words. A significant Stroop card by odor group interaction was found, indicating that the presence of an odor interferes with the performance on an odor-congruent Stroop card. These findings demonstrate cross-modality priming between olfaction and vision.
Pauli
P
P
University of Tübingen. paul.pauli@uni-tuebingen.de
Bourne
L E
LE
Diekmann
H
H
Birbaumer
N
N
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012660:Semantics; D012903:Smell; D014706:Verbal Learning