Damien Dabbles With Taste Perception

One of the first things that come to mind regarding flavoured drinks is its colour. Apparently our perception of flavour depends on the colour as well as the taste. So for instance, if someone was given two glasses of cordial to taste. One glass was filled with orange and the other was pink. That person would be very likely to think that the first was orange and the second strawberry. Even if by using artificial colours it were the other way around.

The first challenge in flavouring is getting people to think about the flavour perception of the overall product as opposed to the ‘flavour’ itself. The inherent flavours of a formula and the actual ‘flavour’ that you add to your product should never be separated in development as they have to work together in the finished product. When you address flavour perception, the first thing that impacts a consumer is the product’s appearance.
read more http://www.ffnmag.com/NH/ASP/strArticleID/535/strSite/FFNSite/articleDisplay.asp

Most people readily accept that you can trick your brain because the response to visual stimuli can be manipulated. When told beforehand what to expect, most people will see the expected image first.

I have had fun experimenting with this in the past by handing someone an object which appears to be heavy and warning them about its heaviness. They prepare themselves for huge weight and are shocked when they receive something much lighter that what they expected.

Does the colour of a drink affect the way it tastes?

I decided to test this idea with raspberry flavoured cordial. I poured the same amount of raspberry flavouring in each of five cups. Not a very strong mix. I then poured extra red food colouring in the glasses to control the five different intensities of red.

The first participants were my mother and stepdad, my little brother and his friend. I have also repeated this experiment with any friends who have visited me in the past week. There were two main ages groups here, 35-55, 15-25. Approx. 20 participants.

Results

• Colour of the solution did not affect perceived flavour or sweetness of the drink.
• Colour did affect the intensity of the flavour, especially in the older group. Participants reported that the drinks with more red colour tasted stronger.
• Colour affected how much the flavour tasted like raspberry.
• Colour affected how much they liked the drink.

Although it was a very minor experiment with very little participants, I have found through this experiment that older people rely a lot more on the visual to make judgments on the taste.

and this made me think..

At a young age you seem to give everyone a chance and make friends with almost anybody. You investigate, you learn, you make mistakes. But as you get older you become tired of this process and consider simply judging something as quickly as possible to see whether or not you should waste your time.

From this test I have found that the initial visual of a product greatly affects the outcome of an individuals later perception of it. So yes, the colour of a drink can affect the way it tastes.

However, for this research to be more representative, more participants could have been used. These results could have been generalised further, rather than only to my family and friends. I would have also liked to experiment with a much younger age group. Possibly pre-schoolers as well as primary school children. I am also interested in how the elderly react to initial visual perception as opposed to the middle-aged bracket. I'll stop by the daycare and aged care, make a few kidnappings and get back to you all with the results.

Experiment 1,2,3 - Lauren

•Aim:

To determine whether the uneaten/remaining parts of a fruit/veg can be manipulated into a precious form.

“Manipulate” = peel, shell, hang, cut, paint, rot, animate, wear, close up, mask, place, light water, evolve.

Method:

1)Purchase a range of fruit that preferably has skins, seeds or shell

2)Eat the fruit. Enjoy and record the experience

3)Keep intact the uneaten parts, clean and dry out

4)Use different materials to try and mask the fruits identity

5)

•Observations

-Texture of the skin and surface was highlighted when painted

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-Able to compare the weight of similar parts: the seeds of a avocado compared to a paw paw

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•Results

The fruit took on a precious look, however it was not fully believable

EXPERIMENT 2:

Aim: To determine the kinds of textures possibly created from sugar?
Method: Heat sugar and manipulate the molten consistency to see what forms and textures can be created
































Observations:
- The sugar is different depending on the time in which you use it and the movement which you move the consistency.
- The final form is set although delicate, if it is moved it breaks.
- Quite a solid material if left to sit.
- Very manipulateable (if thats a word)

Conclusion:
There are many practices that have this setting time factor - ice sculpting, glass blowing, - many things using heat or cold to create
What other materials have this versitility in terms of a variety of forms to transform in between
SUGAR: Plant, cubes, liquid, syrup, cotton!
* How do you make cotton candy!

Experiment 3
Aim: Determine how crayons can be transformed - do they have a similar nature to water...solid - liquid - solid...?
Method:
- Melt crayon in the oven
- Try to reform in new shapes
















Conclusion: A little more difficult than i thought...but stil fun
- I kinda melted them too much!

Nirms extended

Flash of inspiration hit me as i woke up, slept under the quilt, no doona.
im off to buy a 3d puzzle now. reason being i wanna see how hard it is to make one.
my idea was to make the table a 3d puzzle but make it all a singular colour. how long would it take someone to put together a puzzle when all the pieces are one colour? the pieces are randomised so its all down to luck when putting it together. logic wont help anyone except maybe for the edges. you still get the point. after i manage to puta 3d puzzle together ill ring up Taiwan and others to see how mmuch this might cost.

Till then chappies

Matty G - the next episode

MY BRIEF TO ME

It is required that you develop a object, idealy in the guise of a product that encompasses all of your findings, ideas and theories in a tangible, possibly manufacturable item.

This will be done by looking at all of your prior influences up until this point in relation to synesthesia and what is deemed to be a synesthetic experience. This shall be done by conducting research and subsequent experiments falling in line with the direction of the chosen area and associated senses , and therefore result in relevant ideas and concepts. Once a more focused idea has been decided upon, explore the specifics through ideation and sketches, before culminating it in a constructed, hopefully functional, standalone product.

Good luck..

and.. have a nice day..

Nirms

Stuff I researched

Latex Foam

No leads on the Latex foam yet as all the places I went to refuse to stock it. The reason behind this is, it has the potential to degrade when left just laying around. Ill follow it up later on as I now have an address where they apparently have an excess stock of material.

Inspirative research

I then looked at table designs from other countries and how they related to the tables. Also looking at what furniture designers were suggesting as the future of furniture.


http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/images/+2005/visser-table1.jpg


















http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/images/+2005/visser-table2.jpg













At http://www.adriangemelli.com.au/SeaandWater/TableDesigns.htm
i found some interesting forms for the table and each of the designs easily changes the way one would interact with the table and the space around it


















http://www.zazengallery.com/ also had interesting takes on form








http://www.diwfurniture.com/Pages/coffee.html














http://www.indian-handicraft.com/wooden-carved-tables.html

Nightingale Floor

The Japanese style inspired tables reminded me of something I heard a while back. A nightingale floor. It was used as a form of protection in a paranoid and powerful Lord in Japan. All the floors near the entrance of his house were built in such a way that when anyone or anything moves on them the floor boards made sounds, theoretically like a nightingale. It was set up so that an assassin would not be able to enter the house without everyone in the house hearing it.

I researched this and found this information on this website, http://www.kyopro.kufs.ac.jp/dp/dp01.nsf/ecfa8fdd6a53a7fc4925700e00303ed8/281e4edb4f315ef449256f90001bfe03!OpenDocument ;

“The Nightingale floor was laid in Nijo Castle for added security. To guard against intrusion into the Castle by suspicious and dangerous persons like ninja, the floor was designed to sing like a nightingale. The sound is different from that heard in older houses, because of the different way the floor was laid. By suspending the floor above the frame using special iron clamps, the floor can move up and down over the fixing nails when walked upon. This causes the nails to rub against the wood and create a sound similar to the cheeping of a nightingale. All the floors in the castle, from the entrance to Ohiroma, are this type of floor. When you visit Nijo Castle, try your best to walk along the floor without making a sound ── if you can, perhaps you are secretly a ninja!!”

I am now looking at ways of incorporating something similar to this in the table so when ever something is placed on it there is a slight chirp. The only problem I see with this is the product may come across as cheap or warped.

Pictures

I also took pictures over a few days when I saw a table that caught my eye. Whether it was because of its form, its state or an interesting use, more pictures will be uploaded when technical issues are resolved. For now though;

The white table from uni, not good to look at, no real worth in keeping it looking all that great because stains and doodles will soon overrun a new coat of paint

Café table, feel is somewhat important, finish really important, good heavy feel to it

Lounge, darker rooms, colour not so important, water/alcohol proof important, also scratch proofing has an importance.

Rubiks

I was interested in rubiks cubes and was thinking of making a table in a similar way, instead of different colours there will be a different material so it is possible to mix and match for various parts of the table. So I broke open a cube and was surprised at how easy it was to pull apart and put back together.

The idea is a bit fiddly though so it probably ends its life here.

Concrete

I had a conversation with Frank a while back and some of the discussions we had gave me this idea. What if I could give someone a set of moulds or mould creating tools and a lot of concrete and let them design a table to fit their needs in terms of size and height. Possibly finish as well? The idea has scope to it. I can see how most people who undertake this would want to leave it maybe in the back yard for the occasional garden party. But how awesome would it be if someone made it a part of their living room and was forced to work around it when they moved furniture around or whatever it is.

This is quite a solid and almost permanent fixture. In contrast is the ice table, in a room where the temperature is always 0 degrees and below.














I quite enjoyed the idea of the ice table, unfortunatly the four industrial meat freezers ment to maintain the room below zero were not able to keep the room cool when me and my friends descided to stick around at the bar and talk continiously. The bar started to melt soon after and the rooms temperature started to rise to 5 degrees. We exited post haste.

brittany

office voyeur

timelapse grass and concrete shadows

timelapse failure

experiment recap/evaluation

general banter on my blog

Kelly - Explorations & Experiments

Optical Illusion

An optical illusion characterized by visually perceived images that, at least in common sense terms, are deceptive or misleading. Therefore, the information gathered by the eye is processed by the brain to give, on the face of it, a percept that does not tally with a physical measurement of the stimulus source. A conventional assumption is that there are physiological illusions that occur naturally and cognitive illusions that can be demonstrated by specific visual tricks that say something more basic about how human perceptual systems work.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Depth perception also plays a major role in size constancy, the tendency to perceive objects as staying the same size despite changes in our distance from them. When an object is near to us, its image on the retina is large. When that same object is far away, its image on the retina is small. In spite of the changes in the size of the retinal image, we perceive the object as the same size. For example, when you see a person at a great distance from you, you do not perceive that person as very small. Instead, you think that the person is of normal size and far away. Similarly, when we view a skyscraper from far away, its image on our retina is very small—yet we perceive the building as very large.

I’m wanting to look at optical illusions as it correlates well to the idea of disorientation through visual stimulus.

I showed volunteers a series of optical illusions and observed their reactions and asked of their thoughts towards the experience. Most complained of sore eyes by the end but over all it was an experience enjoyed by all and most wanted to do it again. The age limit spanned from 7-69 but the responses were similar. It was more entertainment than discomfort.

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Images

I’m still unsure as to what image I am to use but I have more than likely settled on an image that will be familiar to the audience.

I gathered images that I knew were familiar to members of my family and church etc. and altered them slightly, eg. My sisters teddy bear - deleted bow-tie. This brought about some puzzlement as to what exactly was different as the change was so subtle and took time to decipher but over all was seen to be more of a game or test rather than an experience. Also I would need to look more at images that are recogniseable to a wider audience.

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Inverted Images


Inversion rather than alteration of image may be an option. ?








*Inverted image of the Grand Canyon
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Sensory Deprivation

Sensory deprivation is the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more of the senses. Simple devices such as blindfolds and earmuffs can cut off sight and hearing, while more complex devices can also cut off the sense of smell, touch, taste, heat-sense and gravity. Sensory deprivation has been used in various alternative medicines and in psychological experiments, for torture or punishment.

…tampering with the ears caused more disorientation than with other
senses when tampered.

My main interests include confusion and disorientation and so I feel that through deprivation of various senses this may be achieved.
A way I feel this can be accomplished is a variation of the tactics used by security forces in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s. Obviously I will not in-force anywhere near as extreme measures however the findings of disorientation in these cases were interesting. Actions I will implore are wall-standing, participant is forced to take an unnatural physical position. They remain for a period of time in a "stress position", described by those who underwent this experiment as being spread-eagled against the wall, with their fingers put high above the head against the wall, the legs spread apart and the feet back, causing them to stand on their toes, subjection to noise, a room where there is a continuous loud and hissing noise; subjection to silence.

Discomfort seemed to be the general response rather than confusion. There was brief disorientation upon initial release from experiments.

I believe that the subjection to a ‘stress position’ is interesting. I may have the audience in a seated position with the screen high above or behind them, for example, rather than have them exiled from the surroundings.

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I took my last idea of forced positioning and ran with it. I found a couple of artist that have used similar techniques and the following is a correlation of those techniques.

I had each volunteer stand before a screen. The participant is forced to look down to the screen, that is placed well below eye level, through goggles which have an almost blurring effect. The noise heard in the headphones pans in and out of the left and right earphones which has a dizzying effect. The sound is made up of white noise of differing frequencies and distortions together. The outcome is an unpleasant and uncomfortable noise.

This experiment took place in my grandparents dimly lit garage. I used a series of photos that I had inverted the colouring of and optical illusions that I had used in previous experiments. I didn’t have extremely high-tech equiptment and so for the goggles I simply took and old pair of googles and scraped them on the concrete so that the vision of the viewer would be impaired.

The sound effects I used were those of mosquitoes etc. taken from my brothers collection and they were run through my computer then through an amp first and then through a set of head phones worn by the participant.

By the end I didn’t feel as well loved by my friends and family as I had during our Sunday lunch earlier that day! My little brother still believed it was all a joke and my grandmother, after hearing reports, refused to take part.

‘I was nervous about what would happen and anxious because I didn’t know when it would end.’

‘I felt very vulnerable in that position’

The older the person the less likely it was that they heard the higher frequency noises.

This wasn’t too difficult to stage and the existing eeriness of the garage was a bonus. If I was to do it again I would like a greater variation of sounds though.

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Auditory Illusion

An auditory illusion is an illusion of hearing, the sound equivalent of an optical illusion: the listener hears either sounds which are not present in the stimulus, or "impossible" sounds. In short, audio illusions highlight areas where the human ear and brain, as organic, makeshift tools, differ from perfect audio receptors (for better or for worse).
Examples of auditory illusions:
· the Shepard tone or scale, and the Deutsch tritone paradox
· hearing a missing fundamental frequency, given other parts of the harmonic series
· Various psychoacoustic tricks of lossy Audio compression
· Octave illusion/Deutsch's High-Low Illusion
· Deutsch's scale illusion
· Glissando illusion
· Illusory continuity of tones
· McGurk Effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensory_deprivation

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I gathered 21 people in a small room this weekend and played a variety of sounds. What I found interesting was that it wasn’t just the noise that made them uncomfortable, for the older people it was that they couldn’t hear some of them!

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Tactile Sound

Tactile Sound is the sensation of sound transmitted directly to the human body by contact, rather than by sound waves through the ears. Besides air pressure, tactile sound can be conducted through ground motion.

Tactile sound is often used to increase the realism of an artificial environment. For example, mounting a tactile sound transducer in a chair or couch in a home cinema setup can give more of a sense of "being there". For such use, the transducer is often connected to the LFE channel of an A/V receiver. Tactile sound is often used in combination with a subwoofer so that low frequencies can be both felt and heard.

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Artwork - Sandman by Patrica Piccinini

Patricia Piccinini’s newest installation, Sandman, speculates on the facts and mysteries of human evolution; the transformation from one state of being to another; the emotional turmoil of adolescence; car culture, romance and fate.

Sandman is an immersive environment in which Piccinini has elaborated the relationships between her photographic, sculptural and film works to create a deliberately enigmatic, multilayered narrative. The episodes of this story unfold gently around and across the gallery space, resulting in a matrix of intersecting ideas and probabilities that leads us to consider the inherent instability of evolutionary processes in our physiological and emotional lives, and in the natural and constructed worlds.

Sandman configures a peculiar cultural history in which the panel van, as vehicle and as container of meaning, is brought into play as an ensemble character with the human beings and landscapes in Piccinini’s narrative.

Excerpt from Sandman essay by Jason Smith Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria.

jimmy and mei

Over the past week both jimmy and I have done some very basic field research and experiments. They only skim the surface of what we hope to achieve. They help by inspiring ideas within us and while also providing us knowledge with of what is currently on the market within the furniture industry. In some of the photos that are shown below, we are also seeing how the body forms and relates to the furniture as this will help us decide on what kind of designed form we may want to explore.

FIELD RESEARCH - SURVEY

We wrote this survey on the terms that we would integrate a specific type of music into the piece of furniture and that would be the only type of music allowed. However, after reading the results of the survey and talking about what we want to explore, we decided that a portable music device will most likely be able to be connected to the piece of furniture. We also wrote this survey to find if there was a general understanding between the public about music/sound related things.

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Synaesthesia Survey

I am looking into designing a product that will appeal more to the sensorial side of sound. It would be much appreciated if you could spare a few minutes of your time to fill out this survey as it will contribute to research conducted in the field. Thank you.

1. Write down next to the words below what you hear first when you think of the:
Beach:
City:
Country:

2. When angry, irritated or frustrated, what calms you down the most? Your answer must be related to sound. E.g Music - RnB, classical, chilled, heavy metal OR sound effects - waves crashing of the beach, screams, rain falling on a rooftop


3. If you could wake up to a certain sound/music/noise, what would it be?


4. If you didn't have to hear a certain sound/music/noise for the rest of your life, what would it be?

5. What would you say is a harsh sound to listen to?


6. What would you say is a pleasant sound to listen to?


7. List 5 of your favourite genres of music, e.g. rap, classical, techno. If you only have one favourite genre of music then list 5 favorite songs.


8. Why do you like the kind of music you listen to?


9. Where would you most often listen to your music and why?


10. How often do you listen to music?


Thank you for your time.

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looking at current furniture:



~ this chair was very comfortable and it rocked back and forth.
~ the back was flexible so it bent slightly backwards to mold under your weight.
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~ looking at the way this chair 'sucked' you in providing a feeling of being enclosed.
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~ we looked more at this chair because of its funky form.
~ it still supports the back and is comfortable
~ the thumb and little finger provide arm rests - another creative idea
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~ we found this cut section of a couches cushion showing how the different materials are layered
~ leather, outer foam, foam, material covered springs, foam, leather
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~ we looked at this couch just because it had a section long enough to be a bed.
~ a piece of furniture with multi-purposes. sitting, sleeping, storage?

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EXPERIMENTS

The experiments that were performed this week were very basic. We just wanted to see just how big a part sound and music played in our everyday lives.

Exp 1:

Hypothesis: does music really effect and have an effect on the mood that you might be in if you wake up or listen to a certain type of music immediately after waking?

Method: Immediately after waking, listen to a certain type of music for the whole day.

Observation: I first listened to chilled music and that kept me pretty peaceful. However, it didn't stop me from being frustrated with drivers on the road.
The second time I listened to punk music and that gave me a bit of a headache. It put me on edge and made me ready to bite at anyone who might even think of upsetting me that day.

Conclusion: Music definitely influenced the way that my mood was on those certain days. Therefore, if the right kind of music is played then an individual can definitely feel relaxed after a stressful day at work.

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Exp 2:

Hypothesis: does sound (music played in the background) influence you when you watch a movie?

Method: watch an old black and white film that has no music or watch a movie on mute with text captions.

Observation: I watched an old 'Bond 007' movie and it did have music in the action scenes, however, it was very limited. Only some of the chasing scenes had music and I found that when there was music I was more interested and excited in watching what happened. But when there was no music I found myself bored with the movie.

Conclusion: Music effects and influences your emotions while watching a movie. So by combining some kind of picture on a screen with music, will that be more effective and relaxing then just music?

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Exp 3:

Hypothesis: how important is the absence of sound? do we really choose to ignore so much sounds of the world around us?

Method: wear earplugs for at least an hour.

Observation: even though i could still hear muffled talking and sounds it was still a peaceful experience. Not having to hear the world around me while going into uni was a nice change from the usual busy and loud world i hear. After reaching the city and walking about for a bit i took out the earplugs and it was so so loud! i could hear everything and it was painful.

Conclusion: not having to hear the crazy world for just an hr is actually very peaceful and relaxing - destressing. it was like having time out for myself and choosing to ignore everyone else, but really ignoring them by not having to hear their conversations as well.

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We intend to do more field research as well as experiments. The above was just a starter.