Post by Max Opitz

I’m excited to share that my paper has been published in the April 2026 edition of Consciousness and Cognition! It’s been a pleasure putting this project together, working with Reed Psychology professors Michael Pitts, Enriqueta Canseco-Gonzalez and Greg Jensen to adapt data collected by Reed alum Nicolette Sutherland ‘17 for her senior thesis. Crossmodal correspondences are a nearly universal form of perceptual association between sensory experiences across modalities. Between flavor (gustation and olfaction) and vision, these correspondences are remarkably consistent, and they seem to strongly influence our sensory experience. Could these associations be leveraged as a tool in learning how to distinguish perceptual information? Flavor discrimination is a highly relevant skill in areas such as the wine industry, which is where Sutherland ‘17 tested a method of “shape-tasting” developed by Oregon winemaker Patrick Reuter of Dominio IV Vineyards. We shed new light on the data through Bayesian analysis, resulting in a compelling case for embracing crossmodal correspondences as an addition–or alternative–to language in the process of perceptual learning. This whole project has been a very fun supplement to my primary ongoing project of consciousness research, and I’m hugely thankful to the scientists (and winemaker!) who made it possible to publish. It's currently free to read with this link: https://lnkd.in/ge6fHRcU