Crossmodal Correspondence

Book excerpt: We live in a rich multisensory environment, in which we experience a continuous stream of sensory information coming from different sensory modalities, such as vision, sound, smell, touch, and taste. Our brains constantly encode, filter, and integrate that sensory information, and generate a unified perception of the world. However, how the brain processes and binds those sensory inputs are still unknown. Crossmodal correspondence refers to the tendency for normal observers to match distinct features or dimensions of experience across different sensory modalities (e.g., “bouba-kiki” effect). There has been a rapid growth of research interest in crossmodal correspondence over the last two decades. More and more crossmodal correspondences, within-modal correspondences, associations between sensory dimensions and concepts, and experiences have been identified. The congruency effect of crossmodal correspondences on facilitating sensory processing has also been highlighted.