Crossmodal Associations between Cinema with Elements of Comic and Tragic and Texture Touch

Crossmodal associations are systematic links between a stimulus from one modality (e.g., color) and a stimulus from another modality (e.g., sound). The present study investigated crossmodal associations between cinema (a complex visual and auditory stimulus) and texture touch. Participants watched fragments of movies with comic and tragic elements. They also touched different textures (e.g., silk, fur, marble) and chose the textures that were most/least consistent with the films. We found systematic links between the films and the textures associated with them. Films with elements of tragedy were associated with granite, marble and glass, while films with elements of comedy were associated with glass pebbles, plasticine and a slime toy. Similar emotional and semantic evaluations of textures and films can partly explain these crossmodal associations. Significant correlations were found between the direct emotional evaluation of films and indirect evaluation through the cinema-haptic perception index for the following scales: dirty, disgusting, pleasant and happy.