Preprint_correspondence between angularity and jaggedness

Crossmodal correspondence refers to associations between stimulus features across multiple modalities. Previous studies have shown correspondence between visual or auditory features and both physical-tactile features (e.g., tactile weight and visual brightness) and tactile quality features (e.g., tactile smoothness and auditory pitch) in the stimulus-stimulus pairs. However, in stimulus-response pairs, only physical-tactile features have been reported, and tactile-quality features on the response side of the motor response have not been addressed. The current study investigated whether tactile-quality features corresponded with the features of other modalities in the stimulus-response pair, even when the tactile-quality feature was handled on the response side. Participants were asked to judge the angularity/roundedness of the stimuli (Experiment 1: visual shape; Experiment 2: speech sound) and press the response keys to express jaggedness/fluffiness as quickly as possible. The results showed that keypresses directed at the jagged/fluffy key were quicker with the presentation of angular/rounded stimuli than with the opposite combinations, indicating a correspondence between visual and auditory angularity and tactile jaggedness. Together with previous findings, it is suggested that tactile features, whether physical-tactile or tactile-quality, are shared in both the cognitive and motoric systems and correspond to features from other modalities.