Cover not available
Article In:
Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 12:1 (2025) ► pp.130–159

Bitter Monday and sweet Friday — The bidirectional relationship between taste and time

ORCID logo | Southwest University
The conceptualization of time is based on the physical experience in space (Vyvyan Evans 2004). Linguistically and psychologically, time is represented in two deictic spacetime metaphors: the ego-moving metaphor and the time-moving metaphor (Herbert H. Clark 1973). In the current research, two studies were conducted to investigate a novel relationship between taste and time. In Study 1, participants drank honey water and black coffee separately before interpreting a temporally ambiguous question. The results showed that whereas sweet taste tilted toward the ego-moving perspective in disambiguation, bitter taste slanted toward the time-moving perspective. To find out whether the influence of taste on time could be reversed, Study 2 primed participants with the ego-moving- or the time-moving-framed contextual statements before asking them to gauge the sweetness of honey water and the bitterness of black coffee independently. It was observed that in contrast to the ego-moving prime that prompted higher sweetness scores, the contrary prime begot higher bitterness ratings. Across the two studies, emotion was shown to correlate with taste and time perspective. Taken together, our findings buttress the embodied cognition theory by furnishing preliminary evidence that taste can affect and be affected by time. Implications for the interplay between sensation, emotion, culture and temporal cognition are discussed.
Keywords: spacetime metaphors, taste, emotion, embodied cognition, culture
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The influence of emotion on time
    • 1.2The influence of taste on emotion
    • 1.3The influence of time on emotion
    • 1.4The influence of emotion on taste
  • 2.The present studies
    • 2.1Study 1
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Materials and procedure
      • 2.1.3Results
    • 2.2Study 2
      • 2.2.1Participants
      • 2.2.2Materials and procedure
      • 2.2.3Results
  • 3.General discussion
    • 3.1Overview
    • 3.2Discussion
      • 3.2.1Taste-time bidirectionality from the perspective of embodied cognition
      • 3.2.2Sweet-ego-moving perspective association from the perspective of emotion-related motivation
      • 3.2.3Bitter-time-moving perspective association from the perspective of emotion-related agency
      • 3.2.4Taste-time bidirectionality from the perspective of emotion-related mediation
    • 3.3Implications
      • 3.3.1Implications for embodied cognition
      • 3.3.2Implications for the emotion-time association
      • 3.3.3Implications for the taste-emotion-time link
      • 3.3.4Implications for the linguacultural generalizability of the taste-time association
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Author queries
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (99)
References
Avery, J. A., Liu, A. G., Carrington, M., & Martin, A. (2022). Taste metaphors ground emotion concepts through the shared attribute of valence. Frontiers in Psychology, 13 1, 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Banaruee, H., Khoshsima, H., Zare-Behtash, E., & Yarahmadzehi, N. (2019). Reasons behind using metaphor: A cognitive perspective on metaphoric Language. NeuroQuantology, 17 (3), 108–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barbosa Escobar, F., Velasco, C., Motoki, K., Byrne, D. V., & Wang, Q. J. (2021). The temperature of emotions. PLoS ONE, 16 (6), e0252408. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Grounded Cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59 1, 617–645. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bartlett, J. J., & Ruangjaroon, S. (2022). A war of words: Dissecting the foundational claims of CMT. Axiomathes, 321, 435–451. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bender, A., & Beller, S. (2014). Mapping spatial frames of reference onto time: A review of theoretical accounts and empirical findings. Cognition, 132 (3), 342–382. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bender, A., Beller, S., & Bennardo, G. (2010). Temporal frames of reference: Conceptual analysis and empirical evidence from German, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Tongan. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 10 (3–4), 283–307. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boroditsky, L. (2000). Metaphoric structuring: Understanding time through spatial metaphors. Cognition, 75 (1), 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boroditsky, L., & Ramscar, M. (2002). The roles of body and mind in abstract thought. Psychological Science, 13 (2), 185–189. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bredie, W. L. P., Tan, H. S. G., & Wendin, K. (2014). A comparative study on facially expressed emotions in response to basic tastes. Chemsensory Perception, 71, 1–9. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chan, K. Q., Tong, E. M. W., Tan, D. H., & Koh, A. H. Q. (2013). What do love and jealousy taste like?. Emotion, 13 (6), 1142–1149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chapman, H. A., Kim, D. A., Susskind, J. M., & Anderson, A. K. (2009). In bad taste: Evidence for the oral origins of moral disgust. Science, 323 (5918), 1222–1226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chen, M., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). Consequences of automatic evaluation: Immediate behavioral predispositions to approach or avoid the stimulus. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25 (2), 215–224. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. H. (1973). Space, time, semantics and the child. In T. E. Moore (Ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language (pp. 27–63). New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crist, C. A., Duncan, S. E., Arnade, E. A., Leitch, K. A., O’Keefe, S. F., & Gallagher, D. L. (2018). Automated facial expression analysis for emotional responsivity using an aqueous bitter model. Food Quality and Preference, 68 1, 349–359. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Danziger, S., Levav, J., & Avnaim-Pesso, L. (2011). Extraneous factors in judicial decisions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108 (17), 6889–6892. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Del Maschio, N., Fedeli, D., Garofalo, G., & Buccino, G. (2021). Evidence for the concreteness of abstract language: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies. Brain Sciences, 12 (1), 32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ding, Y., Ji, T.-T., & Chen, X. (2016). The way evaluation tastes: Tasting as an embodied cue of evaluation. Current Psychology, 35 1, 309–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duffy, S. E. (2014). The role of cultural artifacts in the interpretation of metaphorical expressions about time. Metaphor and Symbol, 29 (2): 94–112. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duffy, S. E., & Feist, M. I. (2014). Individual differences in the interpretation of ambiguous statements about time. Cognitive Linguistics, 25 (1), 29–54. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duffy, S. E., Feist, M. I., & McCarthy, S. (2014). Moving through time: The role of personality in three real-life contexts. Cognitive Science, 38 (8), 1662–1674. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duffy, S. E., & Evans, V. (2016). The top trumps of time: Factors motivating the resolution of temporal ambiguity. Language and Cognition, 9 (2), 293–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duffy, S. E., & Feist, M. I. (2017). Power in time: The influence of power posing on metaphoric perspectives on time. Language and Cognition, 9 (4), 637–647. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Elvevåg, B., Helsen, K., De Hert, M., Sweers, K., & Storms, G. (2011). Metaphor interpretation and use: A window into semantics in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 133 1, 205–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eskine, K. J., Kacinik, N. A., & Prinz, J. J. (2011). A bad taste in the mouth: Gustatory disgust influences moral judgment. Psychological Science, 22 (3), 295–299. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eskine, K. J., Kacinik, N. A., & Webster, G. D. (2012). The bitter truth about morality: Virtue, not vice, makes a bland beverage taste nice. PLoS ONE, 7 (7), e41159. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, V. (2004). The structure of time: Language, meaning and temporal cognition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garg, N., & Lerner, J. S. (2013). Sadness and consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23 (1), 106–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gayler, T., & Sas, C. (2017). An exploration of taste-emotion mappings from the perspective of food design practitioners. In MHFI 2017: Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGCHI International Workshop on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction (pp. 23–28). New York: Association for Computing Machinery. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gayler, T., Sas, C., & Kalnikaitė, V. (2019). Taste your emotions: An exploration of the relationship between taste and emotional experience for HCI. In DIS’19: Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference (pp. 1279–1291). New York: Association for Computing Machinery. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gilead, M., Gal, O., Polak, M., & Cholow, Y. (2015). The role of nature and nurture in conceptual metaphors: The case of gustatory priming. Social Psychology, 46 (3), 167–173. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Greimel, E., Macht, M., Krumhuber, E., & Ellgring, H. (2006). Facial and affective reactions to tastes and their modulation by sadness and joy. Physiology & Behavior, 89 (2), 261–269. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Harmon-Jones, E. (2007). Asymmetrical frontal cortical activity, affective valence, and motivational direction. In E. Harmon-Jones & P. Winkielman (Eds.), Social neuroscience: Integrating biological and psychological explanations of social behavior (pp. 137–156). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Hauser, D. J., Carter, M. S., & Meier, B. P. (2009). Mellow Monday and furious Friday: The approach-related link between anger and time representation. Cognition and Emotion, 23 (6), 1166–1180. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heath, T. P., Melichar, J. K., Nutt, D. J., & Donaldson, L. F. (2006). Human taste thresholds are modulated by serotonin and noradrenaline. The Journal of Neuroscience, 26 (49): 12664–12671. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52 (12), 1280–1300. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaneko, D., Brouwer, A., Hogervorst, M., Toet, A., Kallen, V., & van Erp, J. B. F. (2020). Emotional state during tasting affects emotional experience differently and robustly for novel and familiar foods. Frontiers in Psychology, 11 1, 558172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kashima, H., & Hayashi, N. (2011). Basic taste stimuli elicit unique responses in facial skin blood flow. PLoS ONE, 6 (12): e28236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Khatin-Zadeh, O., Eskandari, Z., Vahdat, S., & Banaruee, H. (2019). Why are motions effective in describing emotions. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 50 (2), 119–124. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kranjec, A., & Chatterjee, A. (2010). Are temporal concepts embodied? A challenge for cognitive neuroscience. Frontiers in Psychology, 1 1, 240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krieglmeyer, R., Deutsch, R., De Houwer, J., & De Raedt, R. (2010). Being moved: Valence activates approach-avoidance behavior independently of evaluation and approach-avoidance intentions. Psychological Science, 21 (4), 607–613. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lai, V. T. & Boroditsky, L. (2013). The immediate and chronic influence of spatio-temporal metaphors on the mental representations of time in English, Mandarin, and Mandarin-English speakers. Frontiers in Psychology, 4 1 1421. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G. (2012). Explaining embodied cognition results. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4 (4), 773–785. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh: The embodied mind and its challenge to western thought. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lang, P. J., & Bradley, M. M. (2013). Appetitive and defensive motivation: Goal-directed or goal-determined?. Emotion Review, 5 (3), 230–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1997). International affective picture system (IAPS): Technical manual and affective ratings. NIMH Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, Gainesville, 39–58.Google Scholar
Lee, A., & Ji, L.-J. (2014). Moving away from a bad past and toward a good future: Feelings influence the metaphorical understanding of time. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143 (1), 21–26. [URL]. DOI logo
Lee, S. W. S., & Schwarz, N. (2012). Bidirectionality, mediation, and moderation of metaphorical effects: The embodiment of social suspicion and fishy smells. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103 (5): 737–749. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lerner, J. S., Li, Y., & Weber, E. U. (2013). The financial costs of sadness. Psychological Science, 24 (1), 72–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lerner, J. S., Small, D. A., & Loewenstein, G. (2004). Heart strings and purse strings: Carryover effects of emotions on economic decisions. Psychological Science, 15 (5), 337–341. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, H. (2020). Will it really happen? Disambiguating of the hypothetical and real “next wednesday’s meeting” question in Mandarin speakers. Lingua, 237 1, 102806. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, H., & Cao, Y. (2018). 时间焦点对前后方向上内隐时空映射的影响——来自汉族和羌族的证据[The influence of temporal focus on implicit space-time mappings on the front-back axis: Evidence from Han and Qiang Chinese]. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 50 (10), 1083–1093. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liang, P., Jiang, J., Chen, J., & Wei, L. (2021). Affective face processing modified by different tastes. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 1, 644704. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loermans, A. C., & Milfont, T. L. (2018). Time after time: A short-term longitudinal examination of the ego- and time-moving representations. Journal of Research in Personality, 74 1, 1–5. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Loermans, A. C., de Koning, B., & Krabbendam, L. (2019). Agency and time representation in English and Dutch speakers. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38 (3): 353–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Margolies, S. O., & Crawford, L. E. (2008). Event valance and spatial metaphors of time. Cognition and Emotion, 22 (7), 1401–1414. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marmolejo-Ramos, F., Correa, J. C., Sakarkar, G., Ngo, G., Ruiz-Fernández, S., Butcher, N., & Yamada, Y. (2017). Placing joy, surprise and sadness in space: A cross-linguistic study. Psychological Research, 81 1, 750–763. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matlock, T. (2004). Fictive motion as cognitive simulation. Memory & Cognition, 32 1, 1389–1400. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matlock, T., Holmes, K. J., Srinivasan, M., & Ramscar, M. (2011). Even abstract motion influences the understanding of time. Metaphor and Symbol, 26 (4), 260–271. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matlock, T., Ramscar, M., & Boroditsky, L. (2005). On the experiential link between spatial and temporal language. Cognitive Science, 29 (4), 655–664. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McGlone, M. S., & Harding, J. L. (1998). Back (or forward?) to the future: The role of perspective in temporal language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 24 (5), 1211–1223. [URL]. DOI logo
McGlone, M. S., & Pfiester, R. A. (2009). Does time fly when you’re having fun, or do you?: Affect, agency, and embodiment in temporal communication. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 28 (1), 3–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mihafu, F. D., Issa, J. Y., & Kamiyango, M. W. (2020). Implication of sensory evaluation and quality assessment in food product development: A review. Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science, 8 (3): 690–702. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moll, J., de Oliveira-Souza, R., Moll, F. T., Ignácio, F. A., Bramati, I. E., Caparelli-Dáquer, E. M., & Eslinger, P. J. (2005). The moral affiliations of disgust: A functional MRI study. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 18 (1), 68–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moseley, R., Carota, F., Hauk, O., Mohr, B., & Pulvermüller, F. (2012). A role for the motor system in binding abstract emotional meaning. Cerebral Cortex, 22 (7), 1634–1647. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Niedenthal, P. M., Winkielman, P., Mondillon, L., & Vermeulen, N. (2009). Embodiment of emotion concepts. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96 (6): 1120–1136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Noel, C., & Dando, R. (2015). The effect of emotional state on taste perception. Appetite, 95 (1), 89–95. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ostarek, M., & Huettig, F. (2019). Six challenges for embodiment research. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28 (6): 593–599. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ostarek, M., & Bottini, R. (2021). Towards strong inference in research on embodiment — Possibilities and limitations of causal paradigms. Journal of Cognition, 4 (1), 5. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Payne, T., Kronenbuerger, M., & Wong, G. Gustatory Testing. (2022). In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022. Accessed on 2022 Jan 24. [URL]
Poggi, I., & D’Errico, F. (2010). The mental ingredients of bitterness. Journal on Multimodal User Interfaces, 3 1, 79–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ren, D., Tan, K., Arriaga, X. B., & Chan, K. Q. (2015). Sweet love: The effects of sweet taste experience on romantic perceptions. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 32 (7), 905–921. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Richmond, J., Wilson, J. C., & Zinken, J. (2012). A feeling for the future: How does agency in time metaphors relate to feelings?. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42 (7), 813–823. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ritchie, L. D. (2006). Context and connection in metaphor. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Robin, O., Rousmans, S., Dittmar, A., & Vernet-Maury, E. (2003). Gender influence on emotional responses to primary tastes. Physiology & behavior, 78 (3), 385–393. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothe-Wulf, A., Beller, S., & Bender, A. (2015). Temporal frames of reference in three Germanic languages: Individual consistency, interindividual consensus, and cross-linguistic variability. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68 (5), 917–939. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rousmans, S., Robin, O., Dittmar, A., & Vernet-Maury, E. (2000). Automatic nervous system responses associated with primary tastes. Chemical Senses, 25 (6), 709–718. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rucker, D. D., & Petty, R. E. (2004). Emotion specificity and consumer behavior: Anger, sadness, and preference for activity. Motivation and Emotion, 28 1, 3–21. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ruscher, J. B. (2011). Moving forward: The effect of spatiotemporal metaphors on perceptions about grief. Social Psychology, 42 (3), 225–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Russell, J. A. (2003). Core affect and the psychological construction of emotion. Psychological Review, 110 (1): 145–172. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sagioglou, C., & Greitemeyer, T. (2014). Bitter taste causes hostility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40 (12): 1589–1597. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schienle, A., Osmani, F., & Schlintl, C. (2020). Disgust propensity and the bitter aftertaste response. Chemosensory Perception, 14 1, 57–63. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spence, C. (2022). What is the link between personality and food behavior?. Current Research in Food Science, 5 1: 19–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spinelli, S. (2021). Emotions elicited by foods. In H. L. Meiselman (Ed.), Emotion measurement (2nd edition) (pp. 707–730). Sawston: Woodhead Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Spinelli, S., & Jaeger, S. R. (2019). What do we know about the sensory drivers of emotions in foods and beverages?. Current Opinion in Food Science, 27 1, 82–89. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stocker, K., & Hartmann, M. (2019). Next Wednesday’s meeting has been moved forward two days. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 78 (1–2): 61–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, L., Chen, Q., Chen, Y., & Zhong, R. (2019). The effect of sweet taste on romantic semantic processing: An ERP study. Frontiers in Psychology, 10 1,1573. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Q. J., & Spence, C. (2016). ‘Striking a sour note’: Assessing the influence of consonant and dissonant music on taste perception. Multisensory Research, 29 (1–3): 195–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Q. J., Wang, S., & Spence, C. (2016). “Turn up the taste”: Assessing the role of taste intensity and emotion in mediating crossmodal correspondences between basic tastes and pitch. Chemical Senses, 41 (4): 345–356. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Q. J., & Spence, C. (2018). Assessing the influence of music on wine perception among wine professionals. Food Science & Nutrition, 6 1: 295–301. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, J., Wan, F., & Schwarz, N. (2020). “That’s bitter!”: Culture-specific effects of gustatory experience on judgments of fairness and advancement. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xu, T., Liu, M., & Wang, X. (2022). How humor is experienced: An embodied metaphor account. Current Psychology, 1–13.Google Scholar
van der Wal, R. C., & van Dillen, L. F. (2013). Leaving a flat taste in your mouth: Task load reduces taste perception. Psychological Science, 24 (7), 1277–1284. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vigliocco, G., Kousta, S., Della Rosa, P. A., Vinson, D. P., Tettamanti, M., Devlin, J. T., & Cappa, S. F. (2014). The neural representation of abstract words: The role of emotion. Cerebral Cortex, 24 (7), 1767–1777. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhang, X., Li, Y., Chao, X., & Li, Y. (2022). Sourness impacts envy and jealousy in Chinese culture. Psychological Research, 89 1, 96–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zheng, W., Liu, Y., Liu, C., Chen, Y.-H., Cui, Q., & Fu, X. (2019). The influence of event valence and emotional states on the metaphorical comprehension of time. Frontiers in Psychology, 10 1, 410. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Y., & Tse, C. (2020). The taste of emotion: Metaphoric association between taste words and emotion/emotion-laden words. Frontiers in Psychology, 11 1, 986. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2021). Sweet taste brings happiness, but happiness does not taste sweet: The unidirectionality of taste-emotion metaphoric association. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 34 1, 339–361. DOI logoGoogle Scholar