Color-flavor interactions in associative learning: Evidence from a computerized matching task

Abstract We report a study designed to examine color-flavor interactions in computerized associative learning tasks. In Experiment 1, participants learned to associate certain flavor labels (i.e., strawberry-, apple-, and orange-flavor) with personal identities (i.e., self, friend, and stranger) before learning associations between these personal identities and drink colors (i.e., red-, green-, and orange-color). In the subsequent color-identity matching task, they made faster responses to the colors related to self in comparison with those related to other identities, indicative of a self-prioritization effect. Importantly, the magnitude of the self-prioritization effect was greater when the self-related flavor label and drink color were congruent than when they were incongruent with color-flavor associations. In Experiment 2, the participants learned to associate certain drink colors with personal identities before learning associations between flavor labels and personal identities. Consequently, comparable self-prioritization effects emerged in the color-flavor congruent and incongruent conditions of the flavor-identity matching task. Collectively, these results suggest that the prioritization of a self-related flavor label might be extended to a color associated with this flavor, but not vice versa. The findings of this study demonstrate that the effects of flavor on color processing could be stronger than the effects of color on flavor processing in computerized tasks unrelated to dining.