Mechanisms of Human Flavor Perception

描述（由申请人提供）：当食物或饮料被摄入口中时，所产生的风味感知来自通过刺激以下几种感觉而激活的感觉信号：味觉（味觉）、嗅觉（鼻后，当空气传播的颗粒通过口腔后部到达嗅觉受体时）和体感（质地、温暖、寒冷、辛辣）。因此，风味感知涉及来自几种模态的信号的整合。然而，人们对这些多感官信号联合收割机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）方法来测试四个定量假设的方式，味觉和嗅觉成分的味道相互作用的味道强度和质量的人类感知。(1)使用标准化的评级方法，第一项研究测试的一般性和局限性，假设味道和嗅觉联合收割机的信号相加，在生产的整体感觉风味强度。这些实验将在实验范式中测试加和性，其中味觉和嗅觉刺激的相对浓度在测试会话中变化以产生不同程度的上下文适应，从而确定这种适应是否影响加和性。(2)使用一个简单的响应时间程序，第二项研究测试的假设，即立即感官反应的味道反映了整合和相互作用的味觉和嗅觉方式的信号。当两个成分一致时（例如，蔗糖和柠檬醛），但当组分不一致时（例如，味精和柠檬醛）。(3)第三项研究测试的假设，增加经验（接触）不一致的味道混合物导致更大的促进简单的反应时间。(4)使用的选择响应时间的方法，第四项研究测试的假设，区分不同浓度的味觉（或嗅觉）香料的能力受损时，嗅觉（或味觉）香料被添加，减值更大时的风味组合是一致的（组件较少分离），而不是不一致的（更多的分离）。食物的风味是食物摄入的重要因素，因此也是调节营养和体重的重要因素。更好地理解风味感知有助于治疗饮食、营养和体重紊乱。

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.