Mechanisms of Human Flavor Perception

描述(申请人提供)：当食物或饮料进入口腔，由此产生的味道感知来自刺激几种感官的感觉信号：味觉(味觉)、嗅觉(回溯，因为空气中的颗粒通过口腔背面到达嗅觉感受器)和躯体感觉(质地、温暖、寒冷、辛辣)。因此，味道感知涉及到来自几个通道的信号的整合。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。这项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，这些假设涉及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)使用标准化的评分方法，第一项研究检验了味觉和嗅觉在产生对味道强度的整体感知时将它们的信号相加结合的假设的普遍性和局限性。这些实验将在实验范式中测试可加性，其中味觉和嗅觉刺激的相对浓度在测试过程中变化，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可加性。(2)使用简单的反应时程序，第二项研究检验了一种味道的即时感觉反应反映了来自味觉和嗅觉通道的信号的整合和相互作用的假设。当两种成分(例如，蔗糖和柠檬醛)一致时，整合产生促进(较快的反应)，但当两种成分不一致(例如，味精和柠檬醛)时，整合产生较少的促进或甚至干扰(较慢的反应)。(3)第三项研究检验了这样一种假设，即通过简单的反应时间衡量，增加接触不一致味道混合物的经验会导致更大的便利性。(4)使用选择反应时间方法，第四项研究检验了这样一种假设，即当添加嗅觉(或嗅觉)调味剂时，区分不同浓度的味觉(或嗅觉)调味剂的能力受到损害，当味道组合是一致的(成分更难分离)而不是不一致(更可分离的)时，损害更大。食物的味道是食物摄入量的重要因素，因此也是营养和体重调节的重要因素。对味觉的更好理解有助于饮食、营养和体重障碍的治疗。

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.