Written Proposal

My interactive object will explore what influences the other senses have on our perception of taste. We often regard our senses as completely separate when in fact they are constantly working in unison. 

I will be putting the same liquid into four different spray bottles and adding different colours and smells. The liquid will be a mixture of sugar, citric acid and lemonade so that there are sweet and sour flavours in the mix. I’m predicting that people will notice the citric taste more in the yellow bottle.

The user will be asked to smell and taste each of the bottles and then line them up according to which one was their favourite. I considered asking the user to line them up in order from sweetest to sourest but I decided that which one they liked most would be more subjective and a more personal experience.

My sister is convinced that she can taste the difference between m&ms even though the only difference is the colour. I want to ‘trick’ people in this manner, by using their sense of smell and sight to distort their taste experience. I am interested to see who is tricked by their other senses and whether this relates to the age or gender of the user.