Affective Imagery Modifies Sweetness Sensitivity

Abstract

Effects of vision on taste are well-documented phenomena. Yet the brain mechanism of such robust connection still remains unclear. It has been suggested that those stimulations which induce similar mood or pleasantness might be involved in the related cross-sensory and emotional neural circuit. In this article, the that the affective status of the brain might play the key role for such cross-sensory interaction. To test this hypothesis in this study, we use mental imagery as an affective primer to influence sweet sensitivity. The popular and well accepted emoticons with positive or negative meanings were applied as visual imageries. The results demonstrated that when the subjects recalled positive imagery, sweetness sensitivity increased significantly around sweetness threshold level. The sweetness sensitivity did not reduce significantly on recalling negative imagery. Such observation supports that affective status of the brain modifies sweetness sensitivity and underscores the need to further understand the role of emotion in cross-sensory integration.