Multisensorial

Multisensorial, often written as multisensory in English, is an adjective describing experiences, systems, or processes that engage more than one sense at once. The concept spans fields such as psychology, design, education, art, marketing, and therapy and encompasses sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and proprioceptive or vestibular inputs as part of integrated perception.

In perceptual science, multisensorial processing refers to how the brain combines information from different sensory modalities to form coherent representations. This cross-modal integration enables features such as improved detection, memory, and comprehension, and can occur even when one modality is weak or ambiguous. Classic examples include the McGurk effect and the ventriloquism effect, illustrating that perception arises from the combination of cues rather than a single sense.

Applications include education, where multisensory teaching methods pair visual, auditory, and kinesthetic activities to enhance learning; therapeutic contexts, such as sensory integration approaches used with individuals who have sensory processing differences. In marketing and product design, multisensorial strategies use coordinated visuals, sounds, textures, scents, and tactile feedback to shape brand perception and user experience.

Technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and haptic devices increasingly rely on multisensorial feedback to create immersion. Design challenges include balancing stimuli to avoid overload, individual variability in sensory processing, and the need for accessible alternatives for sensory-impaired users.

See also: cross-modal perception, multisensory integration, sensory marketing.