Seriously though, there may be more to this saying than meets the eye. Could it be that our senses are more interlinked than we think? Does what we see change our perception of taste?
Take my hand and let me lead you through the strange world of cross wired senses.
It is traditionally taught that we experience the world through five distinct senses - sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. But many neurologists suggest that there are at least nine senses, adding in the sense of balance, the organic sense (giving us feedback about our body condition) and proprioception (the understanding of where your body parts are at any given moment). They also divide the sense of touch into several ‘somatic’ senses - including perception of pressure, heat and pain.
To get even more trippy, neurologists suggest that these senses might cross over into each other to help us make sense of the world around us. Some people have a condition called synesthesia - a cross wiring of senses - enabling some to taste sounds or experience the shape of tastes and smell colours.
These are extreme cases but perhaps all of us are a little more freaky than we might imagine. Let’s prove it with a test invented by my favourite Estonian psychologist Wolfgang Kohler, in 1929.
Look at the shapes: One of them is called kiki and the other bouba. Which is which?
Over 95 percent of subjects say that bouba is the blobby one and kiki the spiky shape - Wolfgang said that this proves that we attribute certain characteristics to different sounds. Bouba is more.. well blobby sounding and Kiki has a spiky sound.
This test has been repeated many times since 1929 and the same result is replaced across many different cultures.
So what’s happening here? Could it be that we are seeing sounds or hearing shapes.
The bouba-kiki test can also be applied to taste, with some foods tasting more kiki and others more bouba. Brie, milk, vanilla I’m sure you will agree are more bouba whereas dark chocolate, chilli, and vinegar would all be called kiki.
Another study into this cross connection of the senses has been carried out by students at the University of London who found that foods served on round plates were perceived as tasting sweeter than food on square or triangle plates.
In the most recent scientific study - a carefully selected panel of readers found that the Ocelot was greatly improved if consumed whilst listening to the Buzzcocks and sipping a pint of strong German lager. In contrast, try reading the Ocelot while listening to Phil Collins and sipping Blue Nun - it’s as much fun as having a small child repeatedly hit your face with a toffee hammer.
Find out more by searching for the kiki/bouba effect on the information superhighway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect