Mechanisms of Human Flavor Perception

描述（由申请人提供）：当食物或饮料在口腔中被摄入时，通过刺激几种感官激活的感官信号产生的味道感知：味觉（味觉），嗅觉（当空气中的颗粒通过口腔后部到达嗅觉感受器时，通过鼻后）和躯体感觉（质地，温暖，寒冷，辛辣）。因此，风味感知涉及来自几种模式的信号的整合。然而，人们对这些多感官信号结合和相互作用的机制知之甚少。拟议的研究使用最先进的行为（心理物理学）方法来测试四种定量假设，这些假设是关于味觉和嗅觉成分在人类对味道强度和质量的感知中相互作用的方式。(1)使用标准化的评级方法，第一项研究测试了味觉和嗅觉将它们的信号叠加在一起产生对味道强度的总体感知这一假设的普遍性和局限性。这些实验将在一个实验范式中测试可加性，在这个实验范式中，味觉和嗅觉刺激的相对浓度在测试过程中变化，从而产生不同程度的环境适应，从而确定这种适应是否影响可加性。(2)使用一个简单的反应时间程序，第二项研究验证了对味道的直接感觉反应反映了味觉和嗅觉模式信号的整合和相互作用的假设。当两种成分一致（如蔗糖和柠檬醛）时，整合产生促进作用（更快的反应），但当两种成分不一致（如味精和柠檬醛）时，整合产生较少的促进作用甚至干扰作用（更慢的反应）。(3)第三项研究检验了一个假设，即通过简单的反应时间来衡量，增加对不一致味道混合物的体验会导致更大的促进作用。(4)采用选择反应时间法，第四项研究检验了一个假设，即当添加嗅觉（或味觉）香料时，味觉（或嗅觉）香料区分不同浓度的能力会受到损害，当香料组合一致（成分较少可分离）而不是不一致（成分较多可分离）时，这种损害更大。食物的味道是食物摄入的重要因素，因此在营养和体重的调节。更好地理解味觉可以帮助治疗饮食失调、营养失调和体重失调。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): When foods or beverages are taken in the mouth, the resulting flavor perceptions emerge from sensory signals activated by stimulating several senses: taste (gustation), olfaction (retronasally, as air-borne particles reach olfactory receptors through the back of the mouth), and somatosensation (texture, warmth, cold, pungency). Flavor perception therefore involves the integration of signals from several modalities. Yet little is known about the mechanisms by which these multisensory signals combine and interact. The proposed research uses state-of-the-art behavioral (psychophysical) methods to test four quantitative hypotheses regarding the ways that gustatory and olfactory constituents of flavors interact in the human perception of flavor intensity and quality. (1) Using a standardized rating method, the first study tests the generality of, and limitations to, the hypothesis that taste and olfaction combine their signals additively in producing overall perceptions of flavor intensity. These experiments will test additivity in an experimental paradigm in which the relative concentrations of the gustatory and olfactory stimuli vary across test sessions to produce different degrees of contextual adaptation, thereby determining whether this adaptation affects additivity. (2) Using a simple response time procedure, the second study tests the hypothesis that the immediate sensory response to a flavor reflects the integration and interaction of signals from the gustatory and olfactory modalities. Integration yields facilitation (faster responses) when the two components are congruent (e.g., sucrose and citral), but less facilitation or even interference (slower responses) when the components are incongruent (e.g., MSG and citral). (3) The third study tests the hypothesis that increasing experience with (exposure to) incongruent flavor mixtures leads to greater facilitation as gauged by simple response time. (4) Using a choice response time method, the fourth study tests the hypothesis that the ability to distinguish different concentrations of a gustatory (or olfactory) flavorant is impaired when an olfactory (or gustatory) flavorant is added, the impairment being greater when the flavor combination is congruent (components less separable) rather than incongruent (more separable). The flavors of foods are important factors in food intake, and hence in the regulation of nutrition and body weight. A better understanding of flavor perception could contribute to the treatment of disorders of eating, nutrition, and body weight.