Memory Load Influences Taste Sensitivities

Pei Liang,Xiaoyan Tang,Soumyajit Roy,Qingguo Ding,Jiayu Jiang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02533

Abstract

Previous literature reports have demonstrated that taste perception would be influenced by different internal brain status or external environment stimulation. Although there are different hypotheses about the cross-modal interactive process, it still remains unclear as of how the brain modulates and processes taste perception, particularly with different memory load. Here in this study we address this question. To do so we assign the participants different memory loads in the form of varying lengths of alphanumerical items, before tasting different concentrations of sweet or bitter tastants. After tasting they were asked to recall the alphanumerical items they were assigned. Our results show that the memory load reduces sweet and bitter taste sensitivities, from sub-threshold level to high concentration. Higher the memory load, less is the taste sensitivity. The study has extended our previous results and supports our previous hypothesis that the cognitive status, such as the general stress of memory load, influences sensory perception.

Highlights

In today’s fast paced society, on one side, many people have quick meals “on the go.” Their cognitive brain is still busily processing something related with work while chewing and swallowing meals
The results show that when the memory load increases, both the sweet and bitter taste detection ratios decrease significantly
The current work has demonstrated that the sweetness and bitterness detection ratios decrease with increasing memory load, especially around threshold concentration

Summary

Introduction

In today’s fast paced society, on one side, many people have quick meals “on the go.” Their cognitive brain is still busily processing something related with work while chewing and swallowing meals. In today’s fast paced society, on one side, many people have quick meals “on the go.”. Their cognitive brain is still busily processing something related with work while chewing and swallowing meals. It has been suggested that cognitive load would distract the attention and reduce sensory perception. Several studies have demonstrated that taste perception may be influenced by internal brain state such as attention and awareness (Elder and Krishna, 2009). When attention is distracted by other information resources like TVs, the taste perception would get less sensitive and the hedonic rating of the food would be reduced. How the brain processes the sensory perception, involved with the neural network of higher level of cognition, remains unclear. The cognitive states are divided into “cognitive ease” and “cognitive strain.” The cognitive ease means people feel effortless and comfortable

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion