Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Olfactory imagery is disputed to exist in novices, but is reported to be easier for smell experts. It plays an importantrole in wine expertise. Previous research shows experts’ superior cognitive abilities do not transfer beyond their domain ofexpertise. This leads to two questions: do wine experts have more vivid imagery for the multisensory experience of wine? Andhow general is wine experts’ olfactory imagery? Wine experts and novices completed a questionnaire measuring the vividnessof imagery for the color, smell, and flavor of wine. In addition, all participants completed a questionnaire on general smellimagery. Wine experts were better than novices at imagining wines in all modalities, but not better at imagining smells ingeneral. Novices reported the strongest imagery for the appearance of wine, but experts showed no difference between thesenses. So mental imagery becomes more vivid with expertise; but only for imagery directly expertise related.