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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol., 27 March 2015
Sec. Cognition
Volume 6 - 2015 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00301
Searching for flavor labels in food products: the influence of color-flavor congruence and association strength
Carlos Velasco1*, Xiaoang Wan2, Klemens Knoeferle3, Xi Zhou2, Alejandro Salgado-Montejo1,4 and Charles Spence1
1Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
2Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
3Department of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
4Escuela Internacional de Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, Universidad de La Sabana, Chía, Colombia
Prior research provides robust support for the existence of a number of associations between colors and flavors. In the present study, we examined whether congruent (vs. incongruent) combinations of product packaging colors and flavor labels would facilitate visual search for products labeled with specific flavors. The two experiments reported here document a Stroop-like effect between flavor words and packaging colors. The participants were able to search for packaging flavor labels more rapidly when the color of the packaging was congruent with the flavor label (e.g., red/tomato) than when it was incongruent (e.g., yellow/tomato). In addition, when the packaging color was incongruent, those flavor labels that were more strongly associated with a specific color yielded slower reaction times and more errors (Stroop interference) than those that were less strongly tied to a specific color. Importantly, search efficiency was affected both by color/flavor congruence and association strength. Taken together, these results therefore highlight the role of color congruence and color–word association strength when it comes to searching for specific flavor labels.
According to Garber et al. (2000), most food brands utilize color in one way or another in order to indicate the flavor of the products that they sell. Indeed, when it comes to food, visual cues, together with orthonasal olfaction, are thought to provide most of the information that is available to people before they eat and drink (see also Hutchings, 1977; Stevenson, 2009; Shankar et al., 2010). Color, in particular, may be one of the most important cues guiding people's flavor expectations, classification, search, and perception (see Stillman, 1993; Garber et al., 2000, 2001; Spence et al., 2010, 2014; Piqueras-Fiszman and Spence, 2011; Velasco et al., 2013).
Flavor information is also often conveyed by means of other design elements on food packaging (Garber et al., 2000). For example, the name of the flavor written on the package, or flavor label, can be important when it comes to deciding which product to buy, since color schemes can vary as a function of brand, product category, and country (e.g., Madden et al., 2000; Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012; Velasco et al., 2014). Notably, the congruency (e.g., consistency of the information in terms of consumers' prior experience) between the elements of marketing communications, such as a product's packaging flavor label and color, can be critical since congruent (e.g., tomato and red) and incongruent (e.g., tomato and blue) information may have different effects on consumer behavior (Mandler, 1982; Heckler and Childers, 1992; Peracchio and Tybout, 1996; Schoormans and Robben, 1997; Miller and Kahn, 2005).
People match both flavor names (e.g., Piqueras-Fiszman and Spence, 2011; Wan et al., 2014a) and actual flavors (e.g., Zampini et al., 2007; Wan et al., 2014b) to colors in specific ways. The way in which colors and flavors are associated are sensitive to a number of contextual variables (e.g., Shankar et al., 2010). This is presumably attributable to the internalization of the statistical regularities of the environment (Spence, 2011, 2012). Such an idea may explain why it is that certain associations, such as tomato with red, or cucumber with green (natural pairings), are consistent across countries, whereas others are not (the color associated to chicken-flavored crisps can vary across countries, Velasco et al., 2014). A key question here concerns whether color-flavor associations (and the strength of those associations) influence the classification and search for products with specific flavor labels, since the same product/flavor can often be presented in different colors, even in the same country (not to mention new products or colors that may be introduced to the market place).
The literature on the Stroop effect has already demonstrated that when a word (e.g., color name) does not match the (semantically related) color in which the word is presented, people take longer and make more errors when responding to the color of the word (Stroop interference, see MacLeod, 1991, for a review). Importantly, previous studies have demonstrated that the strength of the association between a color and a word can influence the magnitude of interference (Klein, 1964; Scheibe et al., 1967; Proctor, 1978; Klopfer, 1996; Berthet et al., 2011), which may extend to color–flavor word associations. Association strength between color and flavor words is crucial in the context of food products as some flavors may have a stronger color identity (e.g., strawberries) than others (e.g., chicken, see also Tanaka and Presnell, 1999; Lewis et al., 2013, on object color diagnosticity). The strength of the color identity may, in turn depend, for example, on the product category (e.g., an actual chicken has specific colors, which may be different when used in chicken-flavored crisp packaging).
Relevant to the context of the present study, a reversed Stroop effect, in which color interferes with the reading of the word (e.g., Durgin, 2000), has also been documented. Moreover, this effect has been observed in the case of food names and colors. For example, Nijboer et al. (2006) conducted a study in which they assessed color priming in a lexical decision task that used a color patch or word (i.e., a red patch or red word) in order to prime color-related ('tomato' and 'grass') and color-unrelated words ('timato' and 'griss'), as well as congruent (i.e., red) versus incongruent colors (i.e., blue). In Nijboer et al.'s (2006) study, color facilitated participants' decisions regarding those words that were semantically related to the color, as compared to incongruent words. In other words, color can influence decision processes and bias them toward related objects/words (see also Heurley et al., 2013). With this in mind, if, say, a flavor label and a color do not match with a consumer's previous experiences, some kind of interference can be expected when identifying and searching for a product's flavor information.
A similar color-flavor congruency effect may be expected in the context of visual search for flavor information on a product's packaging. The way in which people attend to the world around them depends on at least two attentional mechanisms: bottom–up (stimulus-driven) and top–down (goal-driven; e.g., Spence and Driver, 1994, 2004). The latter implies that, by modulating the sensitivity of the brain mechanisms that represent sensory information (top–down processing), it is possible to more efficiently explore and select one kind of stimulus over another (Wolfe and Horowitz, 2004; Knudsen, 2007). People's goals (e.g., as when searching for a flavor label) can act as a filter that facilitates selective attention to a subset of the visual information (i.e., color) competing for an observer's attention in the world (e.g., in the supermarket). A particular color-related word or color can activate related representations that may then exert a top–down influence that favors semantically related information. Indeed, knowing (or expecting) the color of a target can reduce search latencies (Theeuwes, 2010; Eckstein, 2011).
The present study builds on Velasco et al.'s (2014) cross-cultural study of color/flavor label associations in crisps packaging. In particular, the flavor words tomato, cucumber, lemon, chicken, and BBQ were used to create both congruent and incongruent stimulus combinations. These flavors were selected because they represented the most frequent color associations across countries, although some variation from one country to another was observed in the case of lemon, chicken, and BBQ. Table 1 presents a summary of the results of one of the tasks used by Velasco et al. (2014) in which the participants had to select the color that they thought best matched the flavor label. These flavor words were first used in a visual search task (just one set size) and a variant of the go/no-go task. The aim here was to assess whether any Stroop-like effect between packaging colors and flavors was robust. While it may be reasonable to expect such an effect in pairings such as tomato and red, it is, however, less clear whether this would also be the case for previously established associations such as between chicken flavor and the color orange, or between BBQ flavor and a burgundy color (see Table 1). Moreover, it is not clear how these associations would influence search efficiency. That said, Experiment 2 was conducted and included a set-size manipulation in order to assess the influence of congruence and association strength (weaker vs. stronger) on search efficiency.
TABLE 1. Most selected colors in one of the tasks used by Velasco et al. (2014), in which the participants had to select the color that they thought best matched each flavor label.
Methods and Materials
Thirty-two participants (17 female) aged 18–25 years (M = 20.25 years, SD = 1.88) from mainland China took part in this experiment. In the two experiments reported here, all of the participants were Chinese and reported normal or corrected-to-normal vision and no color blindness. They were all recruited from the subject pool of the Applied Cognitive Psychology Laboratory of the Psychology Department at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Each participant only took part in one of the experiments, and was either paid (20/25 Chinese Yuan in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively, depending on the duration of the experiment), or else given partial credit to fulfill the requirements of an introductory psychology course in return for taking part in the study. The experiments reported here were all approved by the Central University Research Ethics Committee of the University of Oxford, and were conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines laid down by the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.
Apparatus and Materials
E-Prime 2.0 software (Psychology Software Tools, Inc.) was used to present the stimuli and to collect the data. The participants were seated in front of a 17 inch monitor (at a distance of approximately 50 cm from the screen). The screen had a resolution of 1024 × 768 pixels, and a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz.
An image of the packaging of a fictitious brand of crisps ("Crispies") was modified using Adobe Photoshop CS4 in order to create a set of congruent and incongruent (color/flavor) packaging designs, and additional packaging designs for use in the target-absent trials (see Figure 1 for an example of the packaging stimuli used in the present study). The packages had a mean luminance of 103.73 Lumas (SD = ±39), and were all presented against a full-screen white background.
FIGURE 1. Example of the packaging used in Experiments 1 and 2. (A) Shows the flavor written on the package corresponding to BBQ in Chinese. (B) Shows the English version.
The colors that were used were selected from RGB color codes in Adobe Photoshop CS4 as follows: burgundy 8a1d36 (RGB: 138, 29, 54), green 6fae54 (RGB: 111, 174, 84), orange e67f48 (RGB: 230, 127, 72), red d44141 (RGB: 212, 65, 65), and yellow fdd808 (RGB: 253, 216, 8).
The experiment comprised two tasks, a visual search task and a variant of the go/no-go task. The order in which the two tasks were presented was counterbalanced across participants. The targets in both tasks included congruent and incongruent stimuli. The congruent stimulus combinations included a total of five packages: BBQ flavor in burgundy, chicken flavor in orange, cucumber flavor in green, lemon flavor in yellow, and tomato flavor in red (based on the results of Velasco et al., 2014). The incongruent stimulus combinations included packages with the same flavor labels but now presented in one of the other four (incongruent) colors (i.e., BBQ crisps presented in an orange, green, yellow, or red color). The participants were not told about the congruent or incongruent associations prior to taking part in the study. In addition to the targets, a pool of 20 stimuli was created and used for the no-go and target-absent trials in the go/no-go and the visual search tasks, respectively. This pool comprised four task-irrelevant flavor labels, namely, meat, natural, original, and spice, each of which was presented against the five colors of the targets, namely, burgundy, orange, green, yellow, and tomato.
Design and Procedure
Visual search task
The participants were presented with written instructions on the computer monitor saying that in every trial, they would first read a target flavor word, followed by a display containing four products, and that their task was to press one key when the target was present and another key when the target was absent. Half of the participants responded by pressing the 'z' key for target-present trials, while the other half responded by pressing the 'm' key instead (and vice versa for target-absent trials; see Figure 2A). All of the participants started the experiment with 15 practice trials, including five congruent, five incongruent, and five target-absent trials, all presented in a random order.
FIGURE 2. Schematic representation of a trial in the visual search task (A) and a trial in the go/no-go task (B) in Experiment 1.
Four packaging designs were presented in every trial in a 2 × 2 array. Three were randomly assigned as distractors and the fourth product was the target (congruent or incongruent in terms of color), or else a non-target product (in target-absent trials). Five packages, selected randomly from the pool of distractors, were used as a list from which one was picked randomly on each target-absent trial. The incongruent packages were randomly selected from a list in which the target flavor was presented in incongruently colored packaging. The positions of the packages were randomized on every trial. Each packaging image was designed to fit within an area of 8.4° × 12.3° of visual angle, and the written flavor names subtended approximately 0.6° × 0.8° of visual angle. The horizontal and vertical distances between the packages consisted of 7.8 and 5.5° of visual angle, respectively. After the practice trials had been completed, the main experiment started. In the main experiment, 75 congruent, 75 incongruent, and 75 target-absent trials were presented randomly, giving rise to a total of 225 trials.
Go/No-Go task
At the beginning of the task, written instructions were provided on the computer screen, followed by the practice trials. In each trial, the participants were shown a verbal flavor label (e.g., "tomato," "chicken," "cucumber," "BBQ," or "lemon," for 1000 ms), followed by a central fixation cross (for 1000 ms), and then the first packaging image (for a maximum of 1500 ms). Each packaging image was designed to fit within an area of 15.2° (height) × 24.5° (width) of visual angle and the written flavor names subtended approximately 1.5° × 4.3° of visual angle.
The participants' task (see Figure 2B) consisted of pressing the space bar as quickly as possible when the target was presented (either a congruent or incongruent 'go' trial) and to withhold any response if a package with a flavor label different from that of the target was presented ('no-go' trials). The experiment started with practice trials, including two congruent, two incongruent, and two target-absent trials. In these trials, accuracy feedback was given for 500 ms during the practice trials (the word "correct" following a correct response, "incorrect" following an incorrect response, and "no response was detected" for those trials in which the participants did not make any response). For each incongruent trial, one of the four incongruent packages designed for the targeted flavor was selected at random. No-go trials were also randomly selected from the aforementioned pool of 20 possible target-absent stimuli. After the practice blocks had been finished, the main experiment began. The main experiment comprised two blocks of six congruent, six incongruent, and six target-absent trials for each of the five flavor labels (BBQ, chicken, cucumber, lemon, and tomato), giving rise to a total of 90 trials per block and 180 for the whole experiment.
The data from two of the participants were excluded from the analysis due to poor performance (<60% correct)1. A paired-samples t-test on the error rate revealed that participants made less errors in the congruent (M = 12.8% ms, SE = 1.23%) than in the incongruent (M = 22.8% ms, SE = 3.0%) condition, t(29) = 3.890, p = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.710, 95% CI = -15.2% ≥ μ1–μ2 ≥ -4.7%. From the total of 4500 congruent and incongruent trials including the data from all of the participants, 802 (17.8%) incorrect responses were excluded from the data analysis. In addition, those reaction time (RTs) that fell 2 SDs above or below the mean were excluded from the analysis (resulting in the removal of 2.21% of the remaining trials, meaning that a total of 3616 trials were used in the analyses).
Mean RTs were computed for correct, target-present trials across conditions (congruent and incongruent). A paired-samples t-test was used to assess any difference between the congruent (M = 908 ms, SE = 15) and incongruent (M = 939 ms, SE = 15) trials. This revealed a significant difference of 31 ms, t(29) = 3.554, p = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.648, 95% CI = -49 ≥ μ1–μ2 ≥ -13 (see Figure 3A for mean RTs). As for the target-absent trials, participants made on average 18.84% (SE = 2.3%) errors, however, no significant difference was found on the error rates between flavor labels in these trials, F(4,116) = 0.801, p = 0.527, ηp2 = 0.027. On average, the participants responded more slowly to the target-absent trials than the target-present trials (M = 1172 ms, SE = 4 ms). No significant difference was found in the target-absent RTs as a function of flavor cue, F(4,116) = 2.179, p = 0.076, ηp2 = 0.070.
FIGURE 3. Mean reaction times (RTs ms) in each congruence condition in the visual search (A) and go/no-go task (B) tasks in Experiment 1. The asterisks (∗∗p ≤ 0.001) highlight the significance of the difference and the error bars represent the SE of the means.
The data from three participants were excluded from the analysis due to their poor performance on the task (<60% correct). From the total of 3480 congruent and incongruent trials including the data from all remaining participants, 76 (2.1%) incorrect responses were excluded from the analysis. A paired-samples t-test did not reveal a significant difference between the incongruent and congruent error rates, t(28) = 1.077, p = 0.29, Cohen's d = 0.237. In addition, those RTs that fell 2 SDs above or below the mean were also excluded from the analysis (4.1% of the 3404 remaining trials, for a total of 3263 used in the analyses). Mean RTs were computed for correct, target-present trials across conditions (congruent and incongruent). The difference in RTs between the congruent (M = 417 ms, SE = 10) and incongruent (M = 426 ms, SE = 11) trials was significant according to the results of a paired-samples t-test, t(28) = 3.845, p = 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.782, 95% CI = -13 ≥ μ1–μ2 ≥ -4 (see Figure 3B for mean RTs). On average, participants made 6.8% (SE = 1.3%) errors in the no-go trials. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA, Greenhouse–Geisse corrected) did not reveal any difference between the error rates of the no-go trials as a function of flavor cue ("tomato," "chicken," "cucumber," "BBQ," "lemon"), F(3.032,84.905) = 0.333, p = 0.855, ηp2 = 0.012.
The results of both tasks provide consistent initial evidence for the idea that color/flavor label congruence facilitates visual search and that, as expected, there is a Stroop-like effect. Participant RTs were slower when responding to flavor words against an incongruent than congruent packaging colors. However, one potential limitation with the interpretation of the results of Experiment 1 relates to the fact that the congruent stimuli always consisted of the same five color/flavor combinations, while the incongruent stimuli were randomly selected from a pool of various incongruent stimuli. One may therefore wonder whether the obtained congruency effects would at least partially be attributable to the differing variety of targets in the congruent versus incongruent trials, and thus the frequency of the same congruent targets (cf. Wolfe et al., 2007; Godwin et al., 2014). Perhaps, less variety in the congruent trials might, in turn, have led to higher familiarity of the congruent stimuli and therefore faster RTs. In order to rule out this alternative explanation, Experiment 2 was conducted. Here, the variety of congruent and incongruent targets was kept the same.
In addition, Experiment 2 moved toward a more complex visual search scenario, and directly addressed two questions: (1) Does color/flavor congruence influence search efficiency? (2) Does the strength of the association between a flavor word and a color affect participants' search times to flavor words as a function of congruency? To this end, the strength of the association between a flavor word and a color, and the number of packages on the screen (set size), were manipulated. The strength of the association (or association strength) included two levels, namely, weaker and stronger associations. The two-level factor "association strength" was included based on Velasco et al.'s (2014) results. One of the levels (stronger) corresponded to those flavor labels (tomato and cucumber) to which Velasco et al.'s (2014) participants consistently selected the same color across three countries (Colombia, China, and UK) and which were highly associated with a color in China, and the other (weak) to those flavor labels (BBQ and Chicken) to which participants' associations varied as a function of country and which were only associated by some of the participants to a specific color in China (see Table 1). Presumably, some flavors have a stronger color identity due to their frequent co-occurrence with a color in the environment (e.g., cucumbers are green). Here, it was hypothesized that not only should an effect of congruency be expected, but also an effect of association strength (e.g., Velasco et al., 2014). In MacLeod 's (1991, p. 173) words: "…as the word's semantic association to the concept of color increases, so does its potential to interfere."
20 participants (10 female) aged 18–24 years (M = 21.25 years, SD = 1.74) took part in this experiment.
The experimental setting of Experiment 2 followed that of Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, however, exactly four pairs of congruent stimuli and four pairs of incongruent stimuli were used. In particular, the congruent combinations included chicken in orange, BBQ in burgundy, tomato in red, and cucumber in green. The incongruent combinations included chicken in burgundy, BBQ in green, tomato in orange, and cucumber in red. Thus, an equal number of color-flavor label pairs were used in the congruent and incongruent conditions in order to control for the differing variety of these pairings in Experiment 1. All packaging colors were set to equal luminance (122 Lumas). The colors' RGB codes in Adobe Photoshop CS4 were as follows: burgundy 732532 (RGB: 115, 37, 50), green 2d4511 (RGB: 45, 69, 17), orange 8b2800 (RGB: 139, 40, 0), and red 9e1616 (RGB = 158, 22, 22). The distractors were the same as those used in Experiment 1. In addition, the experimental procedure here manipulated the set size of the packaging display, by including three, six, and nine packages in each search array.
As in Experiment 1, the participants first completed the practice trials (24 trials). The timing of each trial is illustrated in Figure 4. The participants were first presented with a fixation cross for 500 ms, then a verbal flavor label (e.g., "chicken") for 500 ms, then the fixation cross for 500 ms, and finally the search display with the different packages (3, 6, or 9) for a maximum allowable RT (after which the trial was terminated) of 3000 ms (due to the inclusion of larger set sizes).
FIGURE 4. Schematic representation of a trial in the visual search task (set size = 9) in Experiment 2.
After the practice trials, the main experiment started. The design consisted of two blocks of trials. Each block contained 20 congruent, 20 incongruent, and 40 target-absent trials for each set size, giving rise to 240 trials per block, and 480 trials for the whole experiment. Note that 50% of the trials were target-absent trials. When the target was absent, it was replaced by a package that was randomly selected from a list of four packages that were all labeled with "salt and vinegar" but were either orange, burgundy, green, or red. Half of the participants responded by pressing the 'z' key for target-present trials, while the other half responded by pressing the 'm' key instead. The participants were given a break between the two blocks of trials. In Experiment 2, each packaging image fit within an area of 6.8 × 11.8° of visual angle. The horizontal and vertical distance between the packages was 7.8 and 1.6° of visual angle for the set size with nine packages. The distances between the packages in the other set sizes (three and six) varied as a function of the position of both the target and the distractors, which were randomly assigned to any of the nine locations used in the bigger set size. The flavor names written on each package subtended approximately 1.16° × 2.98° of visual angle.
We performed two separate 3 (set size: three, six, nine items) × 2 (association strength: weaker, stronger) × 2 (congruence: congruent, incongruent) repeated-measures ANOVAs on both the error rates and RTs, and a 2 (association strength) × 2 (congruence) ANOVA on the slopes that resulted from each condition. In addition, the error rates and RTs of the target-absent trials were analyzed by means of a 3 (set size: three, six, nine) × 2 (association strength: weaker and stronger) ANOVA.
A summary of the error rate data is presented in Table 2. Significant main effects of set size, F(2,38) = 6.326, p = 0.004, ηp2 = 0.250, association strength, F(1,19) = 6.774, p = 0.017, ηp2 = 0.263, and congruence, F(1,19) = 8.552, p = 0.009, ηp2 = 0.210, were found. Furthermore, the analyses revealed a significant 2-way interaction between association strength and congruence, F(2,38) = 13.327, p = 0.002, ηp2 = 0.412. Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparisons revealed that the participants made more errors in the larger set size (M = 13.13%, SE = 1.45%) than in the 3- (M = 8.19%, SE = 1.06%) and 6-packaging (M = 10.31%, SE = 1.30%) set sizes (p = 0.019 and p = 0.034, respectively). In addition, the participants made more errors when the target was a flavor label with a stronger color association (M = 11.75%, SE = 1.11%) than when it was one of those with a weaker association (M = 9.33%, SE = 1.10%, p = 0.017). Similarly, the participants made more mistakes in the incongruent (M = 12.17%, SE = 1.06) than in the congruent (M = 8.92%, SE = 1.23%) condition (p = 0.009). As for the interaction term, it was found that, in the incongruent conditions, the participants made more errors when responding to the flavor labels with a stronger color association (M = 14.58%, SE = 1.49%), than those with a weaker association (M = 9.75%, SE = 1.31%; p = 0.004).
TABLE 2. Error rates for both target-present, congruent, and incongruent, trials, as well as target-absent trials, as a function of both association strength and set size.
The analysis of the error data (using the Greenhouse–Geisser correction) of the target-absent trials only revealed a significant main effect of set size, F(1.529,29.045) = 6.605, p = 0.008, ηp2 = 0.258 (see Table 2). The participants made fewer errors in the smallest packaging set size (M = 6.6%, SE = 2.4%) than in the 9-packaging set size (M = 10.8%, SE = 3.1%; p = 0.012). A marginally significant difference between the 3- and the 6-packaging (M = 8.6%, SE = 2.9%) set sizes was also observed (p = 0.058).
Reaction Times
From the 4800 congruent and incongruent trials from all of the participants, 506 trials with incorrect responses (10.54%) were excluded from the RT analysis. In addition, those RTs falling 2 SDs either above or below the mean of each set size condition's RTs were excluded from the data analysis (3.98% of the remaining trials, leaving 4123 trials in the final analyses). The results revealed a significant main effect of set size, F(2,38) = 338.946, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.947, and congruence, F(1,19) = 37.073, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.661, and a significant two-way interaction between association strength and congruence, F(1,19) = 5.978, p = 0.024, ηp2 = 0.239. In addition, the results also revealed a marginally significant interaction between set size and congruence, F(2,38) = 3.195, p = 0.052, ηp2 = 0.144. No significant effects were found for association strength, the interaction between set size and association strength, or the interaction between set size, association strength, and congruence (see Figure 5 for a visualization of the results).
FIGURE 5. Summary of the results of the visual search task in Experiment 2. (A) Mean RTs to target-present trials as a function of set size, association strength, and congruence, and (B) Mean RTs to target-absent trials, as a function of set size and association strength. The error bars represent the SE of the means.
Bonferroni-corrected pairwise comparisons revealed that the participants responded faster to the targets in the set size with three packages (M = 910 ms, SE = 21) than to those in the other two set sizes, and more rapidly to the targets in the set size with six packages (M = 1179 ms, SE = 30) than to those in the set size with nine packages (M = 1339 ms, SE = 30, p < 0.001, for all comparisons). Moreover, it was found that the participants responded more rapidly to the congruent (M = 1112 ms, SE = 24) than the incongruent trials (M = 1174 ms, SE = 28; p < 0.001). As for the interaction between association strength and congruence, the analyses revealed that, in the incongruent conditions, the participants responded more rapidly to the flavor labels with a weaker color association (M = 1149 ms, SE = 29) than to those with a stronger color association (M = 1191 ms, SE = 29; p = 0.028).
The analysis of the RT data of the target-absent trials (see Figure 5B) only revealed a significant effect of set size (note that the Greenhouse–Geisser correction is used), F(1.226, 23.301) = 725.604, p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.974. The participants identified that a target was absent faster in the 3-packaging set size, followed by the 6-, and 9-packaging set sizes (p < 0.001, for all comparisons).
Details of the mean RTs, slopes, and intercepts for each condition are shown in Table 3 (see also Figure 5). A two (association strength: weaker and stronger) × 2 (congruence: congruent and incongruent) ANOVA was performed on the slope values. The analysis revealed significant main effects of association strength, F(1,19) = 5.925, p = 0.025, ηp2 = 0.238, and congruence, F(1,19) = 5.052, p = 0.037, ηp2 = 0.210. The interaction was not significant. The slopes were steeper when the participants responded to the flavor words with a stronger (M = 76, SE = 3) than a weaker (M = 67, SE = 4) association strength (p = 0.025). Likewise, the slopes were steeper in the incongruent (M = 77, SE = 4) than the congruent (M = 66, SE = 3) combination (p = 0.037).
TABLE 3. Mean reaction times (RTs; in ms) as a function of set size, association strength, and congruence in Experiment 2.
The results of Experiment 2 therefore replicate those of Experiment 1 while providing further evidence to suggest that the effect is still present across different set sizes. In addition, they support the idea that when the packaging color is incongruent those flavor words to which a color is more strongly associated will be harder to find than those which are less strongly associated to a color. Importantly, search efficiency is affected by both congruence and association strength, with congruent combinations producing more efficient searches on the one hand, and flavor words with a weaker association strength on the other. There are several points to be mentioned here: First, color is a preattentively processed feature that can guide attention more efficiently toward a target, producing near-flat search slopes (Wolfe and Horowitz, 2004). In the context of the present study though, when the color of the packaging is congruent but the word is not the target (mismatch), participants then have to move to another target, thus, producing slower, more effortful, searches (see also Grossberg et al., 1994). Moreover, the strength of the association may also be key as participant's previous associations between a flavor and a word may then determine which color would guide attention. Finally, while the aforementioned points may help to explain why color does not seem to produce efficient searches, it is also worth mentioning that the packages used as distractors could also have had a color that was semantically congruent with the target (though with a distractor flavor label). Such an element may have increased noise (cf. Wolfe, 2005), and thus made search less efficient as if, say, each search trial had had categorically different colors (target-distractor similarity).
The two experiments reported in the present study provide evidence that the visual search for product packaging is influenced by color-flavor congruence and association strength. Specifically, participants searched for the target flavor labels more rapidly when they were presented in a packaging having a color that was congruent (vs. incongruent) with the cued flavor. These results are consistent with the idea that color can facilitate participants' responses toward concepts that are semantically related to colors in a Stroop-like fashion (e.g., MacLeod, 1991; Durgin, 2000; Nijboer et al., 2006; Richter and Zwaan, 2009). It is possible that a particular word can activate object-related representations that may then exert some kind of top–down influence on the tasks. That is, when the actual object fits the participant's expectations, a facilitation effect can be observed. In addition, incongruent colors tend to interfere more with flavor words that have a stronger color identity (e.g., cucumbers tend to be green) than with those with a weaker color identity (e.g., chicken can be orange in the context of crisps).
The results of the two experiments reported here are also consistent with the literature on the Stroop and the reverse Stroop effects (see MacLeod, 1991, for a review). According to this literature, a color word can influence the way in which people respond to the font color and a physical color can also influence participants' responses to a color word (e.g., Richter and Zwaan, 2009). A particular word or color can activate related representations that may then exert a top-down influence on the tasks. In other words, the visual elements that people link to a particular food or food word can influence the visual search for food products as a function of congruency.
The interaction between association strength and congruence that was observed in Experiment 2 is comparable to one of the experiments (Experiment 3) reported by Berthet et al. (2011). By using both an affective priming and a Stroop task, they found an interaction between relevant information strength (e.g., how strongly a target is associated with a color) and congruence (valence-picture for the affective priming task and color-object for the Stroop task). In particular, Berthet et al. (2011) documented a significant difference between congruent and incongruent trials in the stronger condition, but not in the weaker one. While in the present study a difference between congruent and incongruent trials was found both in the weaker and stronger condition, it appears as if the difference is larger in the stronger condition than in the weaker one. This, in turn, suggests greater interference, which is reflected in the difference between weaker and stronger conditions in the incongruent trials.
Here it is important to mention that the pattern of performance observed in the target-absent trials in Experiment 2 should be interpreted with some degree of caution. When the target was absent, one of four possible packages, labeled with "salt and vinegar" and either orange, burgundy, green, or red color, was randomly selected and used in the trial. As only one flavor label was used, it is possible that our participants may have adopted a strategy whereby they responded 'absent' as soon as they saw 'salt and vinegar' (and hence a target), with the second target being the intended target for that trial. However, one finding that suggests that this strategy was not adopted by the participants is the observation that the mean slope of the target-absent trials was more than twice as steep as the slopes of both the congruent and incongruent target present trials. This slope pattern is typically observed for target-absent versus target-present trials (cf. Wolfe, 1998). In addition, the results regarding the main hypothesis of this study would be unaffected by such a response strategy; and the main hypothesis is therefore still supported by the results of both experiments.
The results reported here therefore highlight the importance of flavor labeling and color congruence when it comes to classifying and searching for flavor information. As suggested by Velasco et al. (2014), it is likely that the presented color/flavor label associations are learnt by internalizing the statistical regularities in the environment (i.e., common pairings between colors and flavors). Such regularities also extend to the market place (e.g., Labrecque and Milne, 2013), and frequently, object/color co-occurrences can be internalized by the consumer and subsequently influence information processing as a function of the level of congruency (e.g., Clydesdale, 1991; Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012; Velasco et al., 2014). The experimental approach outlined here may be useful for those marketing practitioners interested in launching a new product, or those thinking about changing the color of their current product offerings. By assessing the effects of specific color-related words such as flavor words, marketers may be able to understand which colors may or may not interfere with such words.
The Stroop-like effect observed here is also compatible with the literature on visual search. Eimer (2014) recently put forward a model of selective attention designed to account for the existence of four key stages in visual search, which include preparation, guidance, selection, and finally identification. Preparation refers to the activation of representations, or 'target templates' in working memory, related to the target information, before the actual search; working memory is in charge of holding the object's sensory features relevant to the search task, that are not directly accessible via the senses. Guidance, on the other hand, refers to the process of gathering target-related information in parallel, while selection refers to the assignment of resources to the potential targets, and identification, to the process of binding the object's features for the subsequent recognition of the target's identity. The color associated with a flavor may therefore be represented in working memory while searching for a specific flavor label, and potentially, those flavor labels that are presented in a manner that is consistent with the statistical regularities of the environment (see Spence, 2011 and Parise and Spence, 2013), such as cucumber in green, may be easier to classify and hence to search for (cf. Vickery et al., 2005). Importantly, search efficiency is affected by both congruence and the strength of the association. This result is particularly intriguing given the existing evidence suggesting that search is guided by preattentive features such as color, as suggested by Eimer (2014; see also Wolfe, 2007). There is, however, research suggesting that when a mismatch is found (e.g., an incongruent color after a flavor cue) a deeper search is performed, which could influence RTs (Grossberg et al., 1994). Furthermore, as the color of the distractors could also match participants' color representation of a flavor, search may have been less efficient.
It will be interesting in future research to look at how color/flavor associations affect a person's search for a particular product flavor (i.e., would red be associated with tomato in a yogurt, say?). Another interesting direction for future research concerns target/distractor similarity, since that has been shown to influence search times (e.g., Duncan and Humphreys, 1989). In effect, products are generally presented in supermarket shelves, grouped by brands and thus by their visual appearance. Since the position of the target and distractors was always randomized and the distractors were randomly selected from a pool of distractors, some trials included two or more packages with the same color; thus it is difficult to say whether target distractor similarity exerted any influence on the search process. Anyhow, the supermarket aisle can be thought of as representing a highly complex visual search environment, in which color/flavor associations may play a key role.
In summary, we provide evidence for the idea that the congruence between color and flavor is a key element when searching for flavor information. We believe that the task used here could be fruitful for both researchers and marketing practitioners. For the former, this type of task may help to assess the influence of crossmodal associations captured in language (e.g., colors and flavor words) on search efficiency. For the latter, it may provide useful when assessing which color to use when, for example, a new product is launched.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Charles Spence would like to acknowledge the Rethinking the Senses grant from the AHRC (UK; AH/L007053/1). This research was also supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 71472106) awarded to Xiaoang Wan.
^The data analyses reported in Experiments 1 and 2 were also performed with these data included. Note that the pattern of results was statistically similar to the results reported in the main text.
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Keywords: flavor words, color, congruence, classification, visual search
Citation: Velasco C, Wan X, Knoeferle K, Zhou X, Salgado-Montejo A and Spence C (2015) Searching for flavor labels in food products: the influence of color-flavor congruence and association strength. Front. Psychol. 6:301. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00301
Received: 05 January 2015; Accepted: 02 March 2015;
Roberta Sellaro, Leiden University, Netherlands
Luisa Lugli, University of Bologna, Italy
Hayward James Godwin, University of Southampton, UK
Copyright © 2015 Velasco, Wan, Knoeferle, Zhou, Salgado-Montejo and Spence. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Carlos Velasco, Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, 9 South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK carlos.velasco@psy.ox.ac.uk


I Ate a Whole Humble Pie This Week!
Not just a slice. Like, God pie'd me in the face with the whole humble pie.
I've been home for only five days, and I feel like I have learned many humbling lessons. Let's just say: If you ask God to humble you and teach you how to love others more deeply, He WILL. Not always in the way you expect/prefer, but He will.
Without boring you too much with all lessons I learned, I will share just one slice of this humble pie, which is my hip pain that I've been complaining about this past week. After consulting two physical therapists, we have concluded that it is very likely that I have a labral tear, which means I will not be able to run the Spartan Race in two weeks. I'm kinda crushed, but I am thankful for loving friends and family and the ability to still walk and move.
Time to get reacquainted with lots of yoga and Pilates!
Humble pie isn't the only thing I ate at home (thankfully). There have been two birthday celebrations and much-needed family/friend time!
…or so I thought. Until I left way too late for the bus station FOR NO GOOD REASON AT ALL and ended up having to run for the bus. I felt like such a dummy for leaving so late and almost missing my bus. I am often late to things, but this really woke me up. #humbled.
Thanks be to God, I juuuuuuuust made the bus and arrived to New York that night. My family welcomed me back with a belated birthday dinner at my favorite Japanese restaurant!
eel avocado, yellowtail, and tuna — all my favorites!
Ben and Pop's sushi and sashimi for two!
celebrating 21 with a shiso leaf mojito — very tasty!
We left full to the brim with sushi, so my dessert was a scrumptious mini pistachio muffin (made by my aunt) from our fridge.
I started the day with Lori and Michelle's great 18 minute plank workout, followed by a hearty breakfast.
We tag-teamed dinner — I made the brussels sprouts and she made the salmon (plus the leftover rice).
Breakfast was small because there was a giant feast ahead!
Moves and grooves of the day included 45 minutes of YouTube yoga before we all got dressed up and headed to the Big Apple for Pop's grand 50th birthday celebration! He wanted to go all out for his half-century on this planet, so we started with an uber fancy late lunch at Jean-Georges, a Michelin Star restaurant located in Columbus Circle. Ooooooooo la laaaaa.
'twas such a gorgeous day!
After we took some photos outside, we stepped into the restaurant for our 2:15pm reservation.
Pop wanted to do the spring tasting menu, which the waiter requested the whole table do. The birthday boy had spoken, so we went with the fixed spring tasting menu. It did not disappoint!
Bread basket: I went with a slice of the Swedish rye (smeared with butter), which was very textured and flavorful!
Amuse bouche: sesame-crusted asparagus with yuzu sabayon + beet-cured salmon sashimi with chili pepper over sunflower seeds and yogurt + warm herbal tea. Everything on the plate was delicious on its own, and the herbal tea was more like broth, but very good!
Course one: softly poached organic egg, caviar, whipped yogurt, herbs + buttered brioche stick for stirring and dipping. This was my favorite dish of the whole meal! That buttered bread stick with the soft egg and perfectly salty caviar — so unique and incredible.
Course two: Madai sashimi, pastel radishes, nasturtium vinaigrette. This was very zesty and similar to ceviche. Refreshing and pretty to look at!
Course three: warm green asparagus, sautéed sorel mushrooms, sherry vinaigrette. These were some of the best vegetables ever. Those mushrooms were so flavorful and meaty!
Course four: slowly cooked bass, crunchy oat tuile, herbal lime dressing. Melt-in-your-mouth fish with great tangy dressing and some sort of pea puree. The crunchy oat tuile was so fun too!
Course five: rack of lamb crusted with herbs, fresh chickpea puree, carrots, and aleppo pepper sauce. The best lamb I've ever eaten. The aleppo pepper sauce went so well with the meat, and everything on the plate just WORKED.
Course six: strawberry gelée, frozen basil and vanilla morsels, crunchy tapioca pearls, strawberries. Insanely interesting. It was like the most sophisticated version of strawberry jello with dip 'n' dots you could ever imagine. I wouldn't choose this dessert myself, but it was fun to eat and pretty tasty!
Bonus dessert part two: homemade vanilla bean marshmallows, orange liqueur jelly, lemon curd-filled chocolates, basil chocolates, sesame caramels, chocolate liqueur-filled chocolate balls. They cut the marshmallows table side, which was the coolest. And all the chocolates minus the orange jellies were so interesting in a good way!
Utterly STUFFED. The food at Jean-Georges was ridiculously creative and well done, and the service was top-notch. Thank you, Madre and Pop, for letting us join in on this spectacular food experience!
…and then walked over to Mass at St. Paul the Apostle Church, which is beautiful.
Following Mass, we had another appointment at Minskoff Theater for the Broadway musical, The Lion King! We had heard rave reviews about it basically since we moved to New York, and this weekend was finally our time to see it.
The show is really unlike any other Broadway musical I've ever watched. The characters are pulled off with ingenious costumes, humor and fantastic visual effects. And the singing and dancing is marvelous!
Highly recommend 🙂 Such a heartwarming classic brought to life in an imaginative way.
Ben and I had a (literal) midnight snack at home and then we all hit the hay. What a wonderful day.
Pop's official 50th birthday! I slept in and then started on lunch for the fam. I needed a little snack though, so I ate some leftover salmon on a bed of spinach to hold me over.
I grilled up some pancakes, roasted chicken drumsticks, and made Pop a chopped salad. Madre fried some plantains and helped me clean up a lot. What a team.
Later that night, I met my high school dance friend, Susie, in the city for dinner! We met up at Cava, which is basically a Mediterranean version of Chipotle, except much better IMO. They give you so many toppings!!
Susie recommended their juices, so we both got the strawberry mint lime. We tasted a bunch of them before deciding, and they were all so good!
In my bowl: superfood greens, brown rice, harissa, eggplant feta dip, tzatziki, grilled beef meatballs, radishes, cucumber tomato salad, cauliflower quinoa tabouli, pita chips, and lemon herb tahini.
RIGHT!? So much goodness! The company was the best part of the night though. It was so great catching up with Susie!
I went back home for breakfast and a nap. I have been SO tired this week at home.
The rest of my day involved Mass, some computer work and organization for school, and this Blogilates workout. I still want to move my joints and keep my muscles strong, but workouts are definitely very low impact and careful now.
At night, my high school friends Sam and Michael came over to hang out, which was so fun! We ordered pizza, and Madre (being the hospitable gem she is) fried up some egg rolls and TWO different kinds of pork.
And now it's 1am and I should sleep, because next week I will be an 8-5 working human.
Which food in this post would you want to try!?
Two fun things you did this weekend.
Have you been humbled recently?


The :set command allows you to specify options that change characteristics of your editing environment. Options may be put in the ~/.exrc file or set during a vi session.
Table 9-1 contains brief descriptions of the important set command options. In the first column, options are listed in alphabetical order; if the option can be abbreviated, that abbreviation is shown in parentheses. The second column shows the default setting. The last column describes what the option does, when enabled.
This table lists set options for the Solaris version of vi, with the addition of important vim options. Other versions of vi may have more or fewer or different options. See your local documentation, or use :set all to see the full list. Options that receive a value are marked with an =.
In insert mode, indent each line to the same level as the line above or below. Use with the shiftwidth option.


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Is the iPad virtual keyboard too compact?
Italian Extended Keyboard Layout for Vista
iPad: not such a friendly keyboard
Posted by Dario de JudicibusPosted on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 at 17:57
It is almost two years that I use both an iPad and an iPhone and I think I can say, with a minimum knowledge of the facts, what is truly usable and what is not in these two devices. Today I want to focus on a particular aspect, that is, the virtual keyboard. As you may know, these devices have an on-screen virtual keyboard. In fact, you can define several keyboards at the same time, one for each language you write in. For example, I use three keyboards: the Italian, the English, and the French one. Pressing the symbol of the world next to the space bar, you can rotate through each other.
Since the same type of keyboard is also available on the iPhone, the developers at Apple have taken to the virtual keyboards a simplified approach compared to the typical configuration of a physical keyboard. In fact if you observe side by side, for example, the three keyboards that I mostly use, you will notice that they are not so different. Apart from the French one, which has some letters in different positions, the Italian and the English ones use exactly the same layout. This is because, unlike what happens with computers, iPad and iPhone virtual keyboards show only the basic characters without diacritical marks such as accents.
iPad keyboards: Italian, English, and French.
If we want to type any accented character or other national characters on these keyboards, we must hold some specific keys until you see an alphabetical pop-up keypad that shows the derived characters. For example, the characters "è", "é", "ê" and "ë" can all be considered variants of "e", so just hold down the key corresponding to a vowel to select one of the corresponding glyphs.
The alphabetic keypad corresponding to the vowel "e" in the Italian keyboard.
This approach can be a serious problem in some languages like Italian, for example, which makes a frequent use of accented characters. Consider for example the following sentence:
Chissà perché è uscito così da lassù?
I wonder why it went out so up there?
To properly write this text is necessary to keep the fingertip for half a second or so on the "a" key, then twice on the "e", then on the "i" and on the "u". There is actually a little trick: if you enable the automatic spell checker, you can write "chissa" instead of "chissà" (I wonder) and it will correct the word. This also applies to "perché" (why) and "lassù" (up there) but not "così" (so) because also the word "cosi" exists in Italian but has a different meaning (objects).
The real problem is "è" (is), a term very common in Italian, so much so that in the Italian computer keyboards is actually a separate key. Given that in Italian there is also the conjunction "e" (and), even in this case the corrector is of no help.
Italian Keyboard for Windows and Mac with accented characters.
The advantage to place the character "è" directly in the main configuration of an Italian keyboard, rather than in a separated pop-up keypad, is therefore evident. Unfortunately iOS virtual keyboards can not be customized, unless you jailbreak the device. Apple, in fact, just as Microsoft, is an American company and U.S. enterprises are often unfamiliar with how people use computers in countries where multiple languages and different alphabets are used. Another example is Microsoft Word, which assumes that you are writing in a language only because you set the keyboard for that language. In reality, people who own an Italian keyboard, like me, have no problem using it to write in Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese and, with some effort, also in French and German (which have a lot of diacritical marks).
I hope that the next version of Apple iPad or iOS will allow us to customize the keyboard or at least to add a row of keys that can be configured as the first row of the keyboard. For now, writing in Italian on an iPad is definitely not comfortable at all.
Tags: apple, computer, information technology, ipad, iphone, recensioni, tastiera
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Widespread Panic at St Augustine Amphitheatre
Widespread Panic Tickets
Fans of jam music rejoice, for the incomparable Widespread Panic comes to St Augustine Amphitheatre on Sunday 17th September 2017 for a night of unforgettable entertainment! Known for their incredible live shows, never playing the same setlist or even the same songs the same way twice, Widespread Panic will provide a truly unique concert experience – don't miss out!!! Tickets in limited availability. Get yours now, while they last!!
In 1986, in a dorm in the University of Georgia, roommates John Bell and Michael Houser, both guitarists, got together and formed the beginnings of a band that would go on to become Widespread Panic. The lineup currently consists of John Bell on vocals and guitar, Jimmy Herring on lead guitar, Dave Schools on bass, Duane Trucks on drums, Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz on other percussion, and John Hermann on keys. Drawing influences from Southern rock jam bands, for example The Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic now are widely regarded as one of the very best jam bands in existence today.
And that's a pretty big deal – as with any jam band who takes themselves seriously, Widespread Panic never play the same show twice. Their setlist changes every night, and within the songs, there's a lot of improv and never-before-heard material resulting from the spontaneous talent of the musicians.
Get ready for a show that's truly unique – book your tickets to Widespread Panic today!!!


"New Kids on the Block saved my life!"
Heh...my friends and I like to go cruising to our New Kids on the Block tape, and I was joking that if I were ever to attempt suicide, I would just listen to them, and they would save my life because I would be laughing too hard to actually do it. ^_^ I know, I am silly!
I went to Milwaukee today with my Mammy...it was fun! I got lots o' gifties, and I am going to be making a Victorian St. Patrick's Day hat!
I am thinking about making my journal friends only (if I can figure out how to) because I am sick of some people reading it and using it against me and my friends. What I write in here should not incriminate people...they are my friends, and there business, as well as mine, does not need to be the focus point of some people's lives. Grow up.
Anyhoo, I love you all (or at least a majority of you), and if you know how to make this friend's only, let me know! I would greatly appreciate it!
Which character from Alice in Wonderland Are You?
Cheshire cat confuses people for his amusement, but still, very funny!
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, and the momeraths outgrabe.


I'm Frieda and I am a black and white girl. I'm only a youngster at just two years old, so I will be a lot of fun. I'm happy, confident and friendly with lovely markings. I have arrived at the kennels with my sister Cora.


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Pictures and Conversations #1: Kindred
Welcome to the Rabbit Hole Podcasts Book Club podcast, Pictures and Conversations! Hosted by Lisa Leaheey, every month a different book will be covered in extreme nerdy detail. For this first episode, Lisa is joined by Heather Baxendale-Walsh, Lackey, and the head of Rabbit Hole himself Jason Soto as they discuss "Kindred" a sci-fi social […]
That's Da Bomb, Yo! #25: Barb Wire (1996)
What makes a movie "hella rad"? Does it have to be award winning? Or can it be something that anybody can enjoy? Did we really need a Pamela Anderson starring flick? Can she pull off being front and center of a movie? To answer these questions and more, Jason is joined by his pal and […]
From Inner Time #9: Ranking The Doctors
Jason and Lackey have returned once more in the TARDIS to present their rankings of each Doctor! It get controversial in parts, folks, so hang on to your bow ties and stalks of celery!
The TV Transmissions #2: The X-Files vs Fringe: Pilots
Jason returns to catch you up on what happened last week on the latest episode of the "Quantum Leap" reboot and the second episode of "Will Trent". Then, Jason welcomes two of his friends, Heather Baxendale-Walsh and Brenda to compare the first episodes of "The X-Files" and "Fringe", shows that often get compared to a […]
Whatever with Jason Soto #115: The High School Incident
Welcome to the first episode of Whatever with Jason Soto for 2023!! And 2023 has been busy for Jason so far. He tells Lisa Sally Haynes and Rob about how he lost his job, what his dad is up to currently, and then discuss High School Incidents! ORRRRR you can now WATCH THE SHOW!!!!! Yes, […]
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Heather and Marc have returned to Sunnydale to discuss the fifth episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which involves Buffy trying to go out on dates with hot guys who look older than they should be, Xander being creepy, and Buffy undressing in front of guys. The late '90s was a wild time.
Lyrical Innuendo #31: Little Red Corvette by Prince
Hosts Bubbawheat and Rob Branch welcome guest Tracy from Barenaked ABCs to discuss the 2001 song Little Red Corvette by Prince and ask the ultimate question: is this song about sex, drugs, or rock and roll? Barenaked ABC's podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow @Barenaked_ABCs on Twitter Find the song on Spotify Watch the video on YouTube Join Rabbit Hole […]
Between The Scares #29: Oculus (2014)
Jason and Lisa have returned with more Blumhouse Productions goodness! They take a look at a very divisive film from 2014, Oculus, written and directed by Mike Flanagan, who is hot right now! And only someone like Flanagan could've done a movie like this, before blowing up.
The TV Transmissions #1: Quantum Leap S1E9/Will Trent S1E1
On this episode of The TV Transmissions, Jason Soto discusses the latest episode of the Quantum Leap reboot, titled "Fellow Travelers." Then he welcomes fellow Rabbit Hole Podcaster Bear from With Strange Aeons to discuss the pilot episode of ABC's new show Will Trent.
Tales From The RR: Season One Episode 7: Secrets, Lies, and Cherry Pies
The Vern and Ryan return back to the Double R Diner and discover new facts about the residents of Twin Peaks. Audrey is going undercover at One Eyed Jacks. While Donna, James and Maddy plan to trick Dr. Jacoby into thinking Laura is still alive. Later, Ryan is convinced that one of the suspects and […]


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A Corporate Sponsored Nominee Service
A corporate sponsored nominee service is a type of arrangement in which a company provides nominee directors or shareholder services to another company. A nominee director is an individual who is appointed to the board of directors of a company, but who acts on behalf of and is nominated by another party, rather than being elected by the company's shareholders. Similarly, a nominee shareholder is an individual who holds shares in a company on behalf of and as nominated by another party.
In a corporate sponsored nominee service, the company providing the service acts as a nominated director or shareholder on behalf of another company. This arrangement can be used for a variety of purposes, such as helping a company to meet legal requirements related to the composition of its board of directors or the ownership of its shares, or to protect the anonymity of the real owners of a company.
It is important to note that the use of a corporate sponsored nominee service may raise concerns about the transparency and accountability of a company's decision-making processes, as the nominated directors or shareholders may not have the same level of independence as those who are elected or hold shares in their own right.
In Turkey, a corporate sponsored nominee service is a type of arrangement in which a company provides nominee directors or shareholder services to another company. The nominee directors or shareholders act on behalf of and are nominated by the sponsoring company, rather than being elected by the company's shareholders or holding shares in their own right.
A corporate sponsored nominee service may be used in Turkey for a variety of purposes, such as helping a company to meet legal requirements related to the composition of its board of directors or the ownership of its shares, or to protect the anonymity of the real owners of a company.
It is important to note that the use of a corporate sponsored nominee service may raise concerns about the transparency and accountability of a company's decision-making processes in Turkey, as the nominated directors or shareholders may not have the same level of independence as those who are elected or hold shares in their own right. It is also important to ensure that the use of a corporate sponsored nominee service is in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in Turkey.
What is nominee director service in Turkey?
Nominee Director service in Turkey is a person appointed to serve as a member of the board of directors of a company. This service provides a solution that protects privacy and anonymity in the management of companies. The Nominee Director service is a service especially used by foreign investors when making their transactions in Turkey. Thanks to this service, investors can remain anonymous in the management of their companies and at the same time fulfill their legal obligations. Thanks to the Nominee Director service, investors can safely perform their transactions in Turkey.
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Escrow Service For Game Accounts
by escrow | Jan 27, 2023 | Genel
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Temporary director services in Turkey can provide a valuable solution for companies that need temporary management support. Whether a company is going through a transition period, facing a vacancy on its board of directors, or simply needs additional managerial...
Escrow meaning
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At Hodgdon, Shelby Stolze knocked in five goals as Ashland rolled past Hodgdon.
Mackenzie Carter had two goals plus an assist for the Hornets. Willow Hall added two goals and Morgan Doughty and Cassidy Pelletier one. Megan Cote had three saves on 10 shots.
Jessica Drew and Autumn Ganzel combined for 17 saves on 32 shots for Hodgdon.


I have set up temporary standing work stations in my home, but I'm going to see about creating a permanent one, with one or two easily put-together stations if I have to work in the bedroom.
But I wonder about my big old desktop. That's not going to be easy to raise up above my desk.
I've worked standing off and on for many years, and continuously for the last three or so. At first I just jury-rigged something together with a board and some milk crates.
It's a different set of aches and pains. If you work a twelve-hour day you will feel it in your legs, so it is good encouragement not to do that sort of thing.
On the other hand, I started doing standing desks because of debilitating headaches and, eventually, back spasms. I'll take sore legs over those any day. The headaches occur less frequently now; maybe a couple times a month. I have no idea if that reduction is related, or if it has to do with the vast amounts of caffeine I ingest now.
Standing desks do encourage more movement. I shift around while I'm standing, and sit around half the day on a high chair. I imagine that is good for something.
I hope it helps you out. It sounds like you have pretty severe pain to deal with.
Thanks. It's not too bad, but I wish it could be banished completely.
I'm planning to do a mix of sitting and standing… mostly because I'm lazy.


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Did Raina Become a Villain on 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'? Her Transformation May Bring Out a Darker Side
We really don't know much about what the landscape is going to look like after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 's cliffhanger-filled midseason finale, "What We Become" (apart from the fact that Blair Underwood will appear as Agent May's ex-husband. Some ladies get all the luck, eh?). But I'm hoping that the newly-revealed Inhuman Raina is going to play a pretty large part. She's always been a fascinating character, and this whole Terrigen Mists thing is sure to do a real number on her storyline.
Raina has been an enigma from the beginning (heck, she was known solely as "The Girl in the Flower Dress" for most of the first season), and time hasn't done much to reveal any of her mystery. Add in all of her cryptic one-liners and decidedly grey moral compass with her crazy, supernatural transformation and you've got yourself, well... an enigma shrouded in mystery who might just be headed for super villain-dom.
Now, Raina has never quite been on the good team — her alliances have historically shifted between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, but it's always come back to number one — she'll side with whoever can benefit her the most. I don't know how much we'll be seeing her in Season 2B yet, but I'm guessing she'll have quite the presence as a rookie Inhuman, along with Skye. After all, they both found out they have super powers, and there's sure to be a lot of baggage and unpacking of said baggage as we make our way through the season
There are already a lot of theories as to who she'll end up being — Bustle's Leah Thomas theorized that she could either be the Inhuman Princess, Luna Maximoff (there were those gold, gold eyes after all) or any of the cat-based superheroes (Tigra, Feral, Thornn and/or Black Cat), which all make a lot of sense. Here's what I've been thinking about, though: Is her physical transformation permanent? Will she look like — as Leah pointed out — post-Polyjuice Potion Hermione forever?
Skye seems to have gotten pretty lucky, at least in the no-physical-change department — I mean, the sudden development of a feline-esque face together with golden eyes and what look to be some kind of whiskers has got to do a number on a person, right? Especially for someone who seems to rely so heavily on her appearance. When you think about it, S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone out of its way to establish the fact that Raina puts a lot of stock in her looks (take, for instance, her well-documented love of flowered dresses), which makes me think that the choice to give her a visible mutation was deliberate. Because when you add in her vanity to her hubristic excitement at the chance to be granted powers (an attitude which juxtaposes interestingly with the protagonist's reluctance to accept hers — Goofus and Gallant much?), and you've got yourself a handy villain origin story.
I'm thinking we'll see Raina trying to cure her powers (she is a scientist, after all — why not take a leaf from Beast's book?). And if/when she can't revert to her former appearance, I'm predicting some major fallout — perhaps she'll seek revenge on the man who filled her with dreams of what she could be — maybe we'll even get a showdown with Skye's dad/The Doctor/Calvin Zabo/Mr. Hyde. No matter what happens, I'm predicting/hoping for a super-evil Raina for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2B — because what's better than a tortured, multi-dimensional villain?
Images: Kelsey McNeal/ABC; bythepowercosmic/Tumblr


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We're pleased to announce the top 3 winners of our 2018 Photo Calendar Contest. The contest was extremely successful and competitive, pulling in over 200 photo entries and 1,000 votes!
First place goes to Casey Hayes of Rio, WV second place to Kayla Mitchell of Damascus, VA and third place to Scott Gum of West Union, WV. The top three photos can be viewed on the Farm Credit of the Virginias website.
Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone that participated in this year's contest! Please visit our website beginning in January to participate in the 2019 Calendar Photo Contest.


Maintaining a healthy mouth is an important part of overall wellness for your pet. Dental disease has been linked to heart disease, kidney disease, and likely other systemic infections. A clean mouth is not only healthier and better smelling, but painful gums and teeth can make it difficult for your pet to eat comfortably. Our goal is early detection and treatment of dental problems.
Most treatments require general anesthesia. We us the safest possible anesthetics that are tailored for each individual patient. We monitor anesthesia very closely. We are equipped with a high speed dental unit to aid in treatment of dental disease. We will provide you with detailed post-dental instructions and discuss strategies for preventing future problems.
At home dental care is the foundation for a healthy mouth. We would be happy to demonstrate the proper way to brush your companion's teeth with a soft bristled tooth brush and pet toothpaste. Appropriate chew toys and treats are also and important part of maintaining good dental health.


As a kid, you don't think too much about your purpose in life: you are too busy learning, making friends, playing and discovering the world. However, as I learned first hand, it is childhood experiences that shape you into the adult you will become.
I was born in Kolkata, India, in 1994. My mother, a very wise and loving woman, did not want the lack of resources to be an obstacle to my development, so she took me to S.O.S Children's Village, a Casa Herbalife. Casa Herbalife is a program developed by the Herbalife Nutrition Foundation (HNF) that supports orphanages, hospitals, schools, and organizations in more than 50 countries and serves nearly 100,000 children every year, providing the nourishment, care, and education kids need to thrive today and spread their wings tomorrow.
I bloomed in Casa Herbalife. I was taken care of by incredibly committed people who inspired me to focus on my education and interests –I even won a music contest!– while ensuring I had access to good, healthy nutrition. That was essential since chronic undernutrition in early life is linked to reduced schooling, poorer cognitive skills, lower earnings and a higher likelihood of living in poverty.
Above all, I learned about the importance of giving back to the community. I had experienced myself how much of a difference can be made by those who work to improve other people's lives and I wanted to do the same myself. In 2016, an Herbalife Nutrition team did a volunteer visit to the Casa Herbalife I was in. I prepared a speech to welcome them and strived to make an impression. I did: they recommended me for a position in the Company. Two months later, I started my first job.
I would say this is a dream come true, but that would not be fully accurate. This is the outcome of hard work, education and being purpose-driven. Getting a job in a company that helps people allows me to improve lives every day and to leave a mark in this world. I cherish this opportunity and work to live up to it.
As of today, I combine my work with volunteering at the S.O.S Children's Village. I enjoy lending a hand and visiting the kids there. I want to let them know that anything is possible and to encourage them to follow their dreams because every child has endless possibilities.