How Your Brain Creates Flavor | Prof. Charles Spence

Join Smell Expert Sofia Ehrich as she interviews Professor Charles Spence of Oxford University. In this interview, they discuss how the senses work together to enhance our experiences and the different research labs he runs. Professor Charles Spence is a world-famous experimental psychologist with aspecialization in neuroscience-inspired multisensory design. He has workedwith many of the world’s largest companies across the globe since establishingthe Crossmodal Research Laboratory (CRL) at the Department of ExperimentalPsychology, Oxford University in 1997. Prof. Spence has published over 1,250academic articles and edited or authored, 16 books including, in 2014, the Proseprize-winning “The perfect meal”, and the international bestseller“Gastrophysics: The new science of eating” (2017; Penguin Viking) – winner ofthe 2019 Le Grand Prix de la Culture Gastronomique from AcadémieInternationale de la Gastronomie. “Sensehacking” was published in 2021, and“Digital Dining”, with Prof. Carlos Velasco, in 2025.Much of Prof. Spence’s work focuses on the design of enhanced multisensoryfood and drink experiences, through collaborations with chefs, baristas,mixologists, chocolatiers, perfumiers, and the food and beverage, and flavourand fragrance industries. Prof. Spence has worked extensively in the world ofmultisensory experiential wine and coffee and has also worked extensively onthe question of how technology will transform our dining/drinking experiencesin the future.