Pleasantness Ratings Research Articles

Moderating effects of chord progressions on the emotional experience of major and minor chords.

Numerous studies have shown the major chords express positive emotions, while minor chords convey negative emotions. However, several research suggest that the association between major/minor chords and emotional valence may vary due to certain musical contextual factors. This study investigates whether the emotional experience associated with major and minor chords is influenced by chord progressions. Employing subjective evaluations, participants were asked to evaluate the emotional valence, stability, and tension of individual chords (Experiment 1) and the final chords in chord sequences (Experiment 2). Results indicate that the pleasantness ratings of major chords are significantly higher than those of minor chords, while tension ratings are significantly lower. However, stability ratings between major and minor chords did not significantly differ. Notably, when major chords served as the final chords in stable termination progressions, their ratings in pleasantness and stability will be significantly higher compared to those of minor chords, and at the same time, they will also elicit lower tension ratings. While unstable terminations show no significant differences in ratings between major and minor chords across the dimensions of pleasantness, stability, and tension. Thus, this study reveals that chord progressions, as a musical context, influence the emotional valence of major and minor chords through variations in their stability and tension.

The pleasurable urge to move to music is unchanged in people with musical anhedonia.

In cognitive science, the sensation of "groove" has been defined as the pleasurable urge to move to music. When listeners rate rhythmic stimuli on derived pleasure and urge to move, ratings on these dimensions are highly correlated. However, recent behavioural and brain imaging work has shown that these two components may be separable. To examine this potential separability, our study investigates the sensation of groove in people with specific musical anhedonia. Individuals with musical anhedonia have a blunted ability to derive pleasure from music but can still derive pleasure from other domains (e.g., sex and food). People with musical anhedonia were identified as those with scores in the lower 10% of scores on the Barcelona Musical Reward Questionnaire, but who had no deficits in music perception, no symptoms of depression, average levels of physical and social anhedonia, and sensitivity to punishment and reward. We predicted that if the two components of groove are separable, individuals with musical anhedonia would experience lower levels of derived pleasure but have comparable ratings of wanting to move compared to controls. Groove responses were measured in an online study (N = 148) using a set of experimenter-generated musical stimuli varying in rhythmic and harmonic complexity, which were validated in several previous studies. Surprisingly, we found no significant differences in groove response between individuals with musical anhedonia (n = 17) and a matched control group (n = 17). Mediation analyses for the anhedonia sample found that wanting to move ratings fully mediated the effect of rhythmic and harmonic complexity on pleasure ratings. Taken together, these results indicate that the urge to move may compensate for the blunted pleasure sensation in those with musical anhedonia. More generally, these results suggest that the urge to move is a primary source of pleasure in the groove response.

A Survey on the Evaluation of Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) Taste in Austria

The umami taste is well validated in Asian culture but remains less recognized and accepted in European cultures despite its presence in natural local products. This study explored the sensory and emotional perceptions of umami in 233 Austrian participants who had lived in Austria for most of their lives. Using blind tasting, participants evaluated monosodium glutamate (MSG) dissolved in water, providing open-ended verbal descriptions, pleasantness ratings, and comparisons to a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. Discrimination tests excluded MSG ageusia, and basic demographic data were collected. A text semantic-based analysis (TSA) was employed to analyze the emotional valence and descriptive content of participants’ responses. The results showed that MSG was predominantly associated with neutral sentiments across the group, including both female and male subgroups. “Sour” was the most frequent taste descriptor, while “unfamiliar” characterized the perceptual experience. Pleasantness ratings for MSG and NaCl were positively correlated, suggesting that overcoming the unfamiliarity of umami could enhance its acceptance and align it with the pleasantness of salt. These findings advance the understanding of umami sensory perception and its emotional and cultural acceptance in European contexts, offering valuable insights for integrating umami into Western dietary and sensory frameworks.

Beyond Caregiving: Daily Pleasant Activities among Caregivers to Older Adults with and without Dementia.

Limited research has explored caregivers' activities beyond caregiving duties, which may offer positive experiences and counterbalance caregiving stress. This study aimed to (a) identify the most pleasant non-caregiving activities, (b) assess time allocation based on activity categories and pleasantness, and (c) investigate the association between activity pleasantness and duration, considering differences between caregivers to older adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and those without. This study included 2,136 caregivers (33% ADRD) from the 2017 National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) who participated in a time diary interview. Participants reported all activities from the previous day, including their pleasantness appraisal and duration. Weighted descriptives showed organizational activities (e.g., religious practices) were rated as the most pleasant, followed by active leisure (e.g., sports), for both ADRD and non-ADRD caregivers. Caregivers spent most time on non-active leisure (e.g., TV viewing), with about 10.6 hours daily on pleasant non-caregiving activities and 35 minutes on unpleasant ones. Weighted linear regression models indicated that both groups reported comparable pleasantness ratings for various activities and allocated similar amounts of time to activities based on categories and pleasantness. For non-ADRD caregivers, greater activity pleasantness was temporarily linked to longer durations. This study enhances understanding of caregivers' appraisals and time spent on non-caregiving activities. While ADRD caregiving is more stressful than non-ADRD caregiving, no spillover effect was observed on the pleasantness ratings or time spent on non-caregiving activities. However, ADRD caregivers may encounter challenges in sustaining pleasant activities over time.

Sexual Satisfaction and Associated Factors Among Older Cancer Survivors.

As little is known about sexual satisfaction among older (≥ 65 years) cancer survivors, this study examined sexual satisfaction defined as physical pleasure and emotional satisfaction in sexual relationships, including associated factors. This secondary analysis of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project round 3 data set included 173 partnered older cancer survivors. The data included ratings of physical pleasure, emotional satisfaction, importance of sexual activity, mental and physical health, and scores of sexual function (the presence of problems; if any, the extent of related bother) and social support and strain from partners. The sample's mean age was 74.30 years (SD = 6.36). Most were male (n = 120, 69.36%) and White (n = 139, 80.35%). Older adults reported they were "very" satisfied with sexual relationships both physically and emotionally: mean (SD) = 2.88 (1.01) and 3.18 (0.77), respectively. Seventy (40.46%) had problems with sexual function that were bothersome. Adjusted linear regression models showed physical pleasure was associated with perceived physical health (β = 0.22) and social support (β = 0.19); and emotional satisfaction was associated with social support (β = 0.39) and strain from partners (β = -0.23). Sexual function was not associated with sexual satisfaction. In conclusion, perceived health and social factors may be more influential than sexual function in older cancer survivors' sexual satisfaction, but future research is warranted to confirm these relationships. A focus on relational aspects of sexual health may provide a broader array of options to improve older cancer survivors' sexual satisfaction.

Frequency of language brokering experience as a source of difference in bilinguals’ emotion judgments across languages

Aims and Objectives: Bilinguals often perceive one language as more emotionally resonant than the other. Our study examined whether the emotional resonance of their heritage language is enhanced in bilingual immigrants who engage in a high degree of language brokering (early informal translation on behalf of family members) as compared to those who do not engage in frequent brokering. Method: One hundred ten US-based Latine Spanish-English proficient bilingual adults rated brief vignettes depicting neutral, positive or negative emotion-laden situations in each language on valence and intensity. Participants were categorized into high ( n = 46) or low brokering groups ( n = 64) based on differences in their self-reported frequency of brokering on a modified Language Brokering Scale (LBS). Analysis: For each of the three vignette types—positive, negative, and neutral, a 2 (Group) × 2 (Presentation Language) mixed-model analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed on the valence and intensity of emotion ratings. Findings: For vignettes depicting positive emotion, individuals with high brokering experience gave higher pleasantness ratings when the vignettes were presented in Spanish than in English, and gave lower pleasantness ratings in English as compared to low-frequency brokers. Experience: No group or language differences were found for valence judgments for negative or neutral vignettes. There were no group or language differences in intensity ratings. Originality: Language brokering experience as a source of variability in emotional experience among bilinguals is not well documented; specifically, how these bilinguals experience emotional vignettes has not been previously studied. Significance: The findings contribute to the literature on the experience of emotions across languages among bilinguals who engaged in more frequent informal translation. This supports a first-language emotional resonance effect associated with early translation (or brokering) experience.

Examining the roles of reward sensitivity and difficulties in emotion regulation in relation to low-restraint binge eating.

Leading treatments for binge eating target dietary restraint, but up to 35% of the people with binge eating report low restraint. This study examined the roles of reward sensitivity and emotion dysregulation in relation to low-restraint binge eating. Women with binge eating (low-restraint: n = 22; high-restraint: n = 69) and controls (n = 49) completed self-report measures of generalized reward sensitivity and emotion dysregulation and a picture-viewing task assessing craving and pleasure for high-calorie food. As expected, food-related craving and emotion dysregulation were greater in the clinical than in the control group, but no differences emerged between high- and low-restraint binge eating groups. However, correlational analyses found that, within the clinical group, the number of restraint days related to greater anticipatory sensitivity for generalized rewards and lower pleasure ratings of food. Results suggest that emotion dysregulation characterizes both high- and low-restraint binge eating. As self-reported food liking was linked with lower restraint, greater enjoyment of palatable foods may uniquely contribute to low-restraint binge eating. Increasing emphasis on emotion regulation and food-related reward sensitivity may enhance treatment outcomes for individuals with low-restraint binge eating.

The importance of different body parts for the (un-)pleasantness of whole-body vibration on an aircraft seat bench

Noise and vibration are two physical factors that can reduce the perceived comfort of passengers during a flight. To reduce the detrimental impact of seat transmitted vibration, it is necessary to understand which body parts and, thus, which corresponding seat parts are relevant for the pleasantness assessment. In this study, 40 participants (19 female, 21 male) rated the pleasantness of sinusoidal whole-body vibrations in the vertical direction while seated on a typical aircraft seat bench and listening to a synthetic broadband aircraft cabin noise over headphones. The vibration signals covered seven frequencies and four vibration levels, and pleasantness ratings were made on a verbally anchored scale. In addition, the participants separately marked those body parts that contributed significantly to their rating and those where they felt a vibration for each of the vibroacoustic stimuli. The results showed that not all body parts at which vibration were felt were also classified by the participants to reduce the ratings significantly, especially at higher vibration levels. A median split of the participants into groups of lighter and heavier participants indicates which body properties might be underlying factors for certain judgments.

Study of pleasantness maps and perceived predominant sound sources in a university campus soundscape analysis

The soundscape within a University campus is very complex, covering different environments, such as quiet areas to enhance focus during work and study sessions, parking lots, internal road networks, but also vibrant spaces for leisure purposes. These aspects depict University campuses as a perfect example for exploring complex soundscape analyses, and innovative methodologies for its assessment and mapping. This study presents and explores field data regarding the soundscape in selected points of the Fisciano campus of the University of Salerno (Italy) collected during a soundwalk, as well as pleasantness data obtained in crowdsourcing mode during NoiseCapture parties in the campus area. The soundwalk has been performed according to the ISO 12913, while the crowdsourced data was gathered using the NoiseCapture app. Maps of the soundscape pleasantness have been obtained using an interpolation approach on the crowdsourced data, validated on the soundwalk results and merged with the land use and facility map, to investigate the main role of sound sources in the soundscape's pleasantness rating. The results have been also compared with the predominance rated during the soundwalk. By comparing physical parameters, pleasantness data, and perceptual aspects, this study offers interesting insights on the complex soundscape of the university setting.

Brain electrical patterns associated with pleasure and emotion induced by tonal and atonal music.

Several studies in the last 40 years have used electroencephalography (EEG) to recognize patterns of brain electrical activity correlated with emotions evoked by various stimuli. For example, the frontal alpha and theta asymmetry models to distinguish musical emotions and musical pleasure, respectively. Since these studies have used mainly tonal music, in this study, we decided to incorporate both tonal (n = 8) and atonal (n = 8) musical stimuli to observe the subjective and electrophysiological responses associated with valence, arousal, pleasure, and familiarity, from 25 nonmusician Mexican adults (10 females, 15 males; M = 37.8 years old, SD = 15.1). Our results showed that atonal music was perceived as less familiar and pleasurable than tonal music, according to the average subjective ratings. Interestingly, greater right hemispheric activity (alpha suppression) was associated with atonal music listening. Additionally, there was an increase of theta power at the right frontal cortex (F4) correlated with a decrease of pleasure ratings, in line with the frontal theta asymmetry (FTA) model. Finally, according to the model of frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) to distinguish musical emotions, activation (alpha suppression) of the left frontal cortex (F3) was correlated with greater valence and arousal-that is, joyful music. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Environmental chamber analysis of objective volatile organic compounds emissions and subjective olfactory perception from main automotive interior components

This study examined the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their associated odors from five key automotive interior components: door panels, weatherstrips, seats, headliners, and carpets. Objective VOC emissions and subjective odor evaluations were conducted in an environmental chamber with controlled temperature, humidity, and ventilation rates. VOC analysis revealed that alkanes and aromatic compounds were the predominant emissions, together accounting for 43 %–61 % of the total number of emission types. Other notable emissions included aldehydes and ketones. The overlap in the emitted compounds was substantial, with 13 % of the compounds being universally emitted, 42 % emitted by two or more components, and 45 % unique to individual components. Subjective odor evaluations identified distinct odor fingerprints for each component, with weatherstrips having the highest odor intensity and headliners having the lowest. Perceived pleasantness (PP) ratings were generally negative, indicating the unappealing nature of the odors. Odor activity value (OAV) analysis showed a weak linear relationship with odor intensity, particularly because of the negative correlation in weatherstrips, suggesting significant masking or enhancement effects among odor molecules. Aldehydes and acids were the major contributors to OAV, whereas alkanes, which are often overlooked, were also significant because of their high emission levels.

The effect of individual differences on Pavlovian conditioning in specific Internet-use disorders

The I-PACE model suggests that Internet-use disorders result from the interplay of individual vulnerabilities and cognitive and affective processes. As in substance use disorders, Pavlovian conditioning processes are attributed a key role. However, and despite progress in identifying individual vulnerabilities, factors influencing appetitive conditioning remain poorly understood. We therefore conducted a Pavlovian conditioning experiment in which individuals with risky as well as non-problematic use of either gaming or buying-shopping applications learned to associate different abstract stimuli with either gaming or buying-shopping. Regression analyses were used to identify individual characteristics influencing awareness of the experimental contingencies, speed of acquisition of awareness and the magnitude of the conditioned emotional responses regarding pleasantness and arousal ratings of the stimuli. Results demonstrated successful Pavlovian conditioning and an attentional bias towards reward-predicting cues. Awareness of the experimental contingencies was linked solely to cognitive abilities, while the speed of acquisition of awareness and the magnitude of conditioned responses was influenced by specific personality characteristics, experiences of compensation from using the application and severity of problematic use. Importantly, certain characteristics specifically predicted the magnitude of the conditioned response towards gaming, while others specifically predicted the response towards buying-shopping, highlighting differing vulnerabilities. These findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions and prevention strategies tailored to these specific vulnerability factors. Further implications and limitations are discussed.

An Eye Tracking Study on Symmetry and Golden Ratio in Abstract Art

A visual stimulus that is divided in harmonic proportions is often judged as more pleasant than others. This is well known by artists that often used two main types of geometric harmonic patterns: symmetry and the golden ratio. Symmetry refers to the property of an object to have two similar halves, whereas the golden ratio consists of dividing an object in a major and a minor part so that their proportion is the same as that between the whole object and its major part. Here we investigated looking behaviour and explicit preferences for different regularities including symmetry and golden ratio. We selected four Mark Rothko’s paintings, a famous abstract expressionism artist, characterized by two main areas depicted by different colours: one symmetric (ratio between areas: 50–50%), one in golden ratio (38–62%), one in an intermediate ratio (46–54%), and one in a ratio exceeding the golden ratio (32–68%). Thirty-six healthy participants (24.75 ± 3.71 years old) completed three tasks: observation task (OT), pleasantness task (PT), and harmony task (HT). Findings for explicit ratings of pleasantness and harmony were very similar and were not significantly correlated with patterns of looking behaviour. Eye Dwell Time mainly depended on stimuli orientation (p < 0.001), but for the harmony task also by ratio and their interaction. Our results showed that the visual scanning behaviour of abstract arts primarily depends on the orientation of internal components, whereas their proportion is more important for the pleasantness and harmony explicit judgments.

Unveiling the Neurocognitive Impact of Food Aroma Molecules on Pleasantness Perception: Insights From EEG and Key Brain LFT Activation

ABSTRACTFood aroma molecules have the potential to influence people's emotions through the olfactory pathway and are anticipated to emerge as a new method for regulating emotional states, owing to their simplicity and high acceptance. Current research on food aroma predominantly centres on the physicochemical properties and formation mechanisms of aroma components, neglecting the effects of aroma molecules in emotional regulation. Moreover, the evaluation of pleasantness, a pivotal dimension of emotions, lacks objective assessment methods. In this study, sensory assessments of pleasantness for 12 aroma compounds were gathered from 45 subjects, and their correlation with the brain's activity responses in the left frontal‐temporal lobe (LFT) and right frontal‐temporal lobe (RFT) using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals was analysed. The results revealed a close relationship between brain activity in the LFT and the perception of aroma pleasantness. Furthermore, a substantial correlation was observed between the α, β and γ frequency bands in the LFT and the subjective pleasantness scores. These findings demonstrate that the LFT plays a critical role in evaluating the pleasantness of aroma molecules, and that changes in the power of the α, β and γ bands serve as important evaluation indicators. Consequently, this method offers a new objective means for assessing pleasantness to find higher pleasantness aroma molecules and the emotional regulation of food aroma.

Human-AI collaboration: Unraveling the effects of user proficiency and AI agent capability in intelligent decision support systems

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are integral components of modern intelligent decision support systems (IDSS), providing their capability to assist in decision-making processes. Understanding the influence of AI involvement on human responses within these systems is crucial for fostering appropriate reliance on AI advice and ensuring a comfortable user experience. This study delves into the impact of AI agents on decision change, correct rate change, confidence rate change and pleasure rating among users. It explores the main and interactive effects of user proficiency and AI agent capability on user responses. A block-factorial experiment involving 45 participants was conducted. The results indicated that high-capability AI agents were associated with substantial decision change, correct rate change and confidence rate change. Participants with higher proficiency, both subjectively and objectively, exhibited reduced reliance on AI agents for task execution. Notably, the involvement of AI agents led to a slight decline in correct rates for participants of high competence (i.e., participants' independent correct rate exceeds AI agent capability), while still enhancing their confidence levels. Additionally, agents lacking human-like embodiment tended to enhance participants’ pleasure ratings. Individual differences in gender, collaboration experience with AI agent, and stereotype on AI agent capability also shaped the decision changes and pleasure ratings of participants. These findings underscore the presence of complementary competence interaction between user and AI agent within IDSS, and can be applied in designing capability of advisory AI agents with consideration of user proficiency and individual characteristics. Relevance to industryThe findings can be used as guidelines for designing AI agents and specifying their application strategies to integrate the assistance of AI agents effectively in intelligent decision support systems.

Effect of Sound Genre on Emotional Responses for Adults With and Without Hearing Loss.

Adults with permanent hearing loss exhibit a reduced range of valence ratings in response to nonspeech sounds; however, the degree to which sound genre might affect such ratings is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine if ratings of valence covary with sound genre (e.g., social communication, technology, music), or only expected valence (pleasant, neutral, unpleasant). As part of larger study protocols, participants rated valence and arousal in response to nonspeech sounds. For this study, data were reanalyzed by assigning sounds to unidimensional genres and evaluating relationships between hearing loss, age, and gender and ratings of valence. In total, results from 120 adults with normal hearing (M = 46.3 years, SD = 17.7, 33 males and 87 females) and 74 adults with hearing loss (M = 66.1 years, SD = 6.1, 46 males and 28 females) were included. Principal component analysis confirmed valence ratings loaded onto eight unidimensional factors: positive and negative social communication, positive and negative technology, music, animal, activities, and human body noises. Regression analysis revealed listeners with hearing loss rated some genres as less extreme (less pleasant/less unpleasant) than peers with better hearing, with the relationship between hearing loss and valence ratings being similar across genres within an expected valence category. In terms of demographic factors, female gender was associated with less pleasant ratings of negative social communication, positive and negative technology, activities, and human body noises, while increasing age was related to a subtle rise in valence ratings across all genres. Taken together, these results confirm and extend previous findings that hearing loss is related to a reduced range of valence ratings and suggest that this effect is mediated by expected sound valence, rather than sound genre.

Lunch melodies: Investigating the impact of music on emotions, hunger, liking, and psychophysiology while viewing a lunch meal

Sensory cues like music can influence our behaviour towards food. In the present study, the effect of music on hunger, fullness, desire to eat and liking of foods, while viewing real lunch food items, was investigated. To this end, emotions and physiological measures were obtained to understand the changes in hunger, fullness, desire to eat and liking. The study aimed to examine changes in hunger, fullness, desire to eat, and liking when viewing a lunch meal under silent and varying music conditions. Additionally, the study explored the potential role of emotions to explain these changes. A crossover experimental design was employed using 50 participants (17 males and 33 females) who observed lunch food items during a silent condition (control), or while listening to either liked or disliked music. The findings demonstrate the cross-modal influence of music on hunger and food liking ratings when viewing food. Hunger ratings were higher and more negative emotions were evoked while viewing lunch food items and listening to disliked music. In contrast, in the silent and liked music conditions, which elicited more positive emotions, there were increased ratings of healthy and unhealthy food pleasantness, overall food liking, and food satisfaction. Electrophysiological measures of heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) were obtained while listening to music and viewing a lunch meal. Viewing food items while listening to disliked music evoked negative emotions and significantly increased SC compared to liked music or silent conditions. Viewing the food items under the silent condition evoked positive emotions and significantly increased HR compared to listening to liked and disliked music. This study showed that the participants’ emotions, hunger level, liking, and electrophysiological responses when viewing food are influenced by music that varied with liking. Results from this study may assist in enhancing dining experiences, as well as influencing food choices and satisfaction with meals.

High frequency heart rate variability is associated with sensitivity to affective touch

C-tactile afferents (CTs) are a class of unmyelinated, mechanosensitive nerve fibre that respond optimally to skin temperature, slow moving touch typical of a caress. They are hypothesised to signal the rewarding value of affiliative tactile interactions. While CT firing frequency is positively correlated with subjective ratings of touch pleasantness, trait differences in sensitivity to the specific hedonic value of CT targeted touch have been reported.Inter-individual differences in vagally mediated, high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) have been linked to variation in visual social cognition. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between resting state HF-HRV and sensitivity to socially relevant CT targeted touch.58 healthy participants first had a 5-minute electrocardiogram. They then rated the pleasantness of 5 randomly presented velocities of robotically delivered touch. Three velocities fell within (1, 3, 10 cm/s) and two outside (0.3, 30 cm/s) the CT optimal range. Each velocity was delivered twice.On a group level, affective touch ratings were described by a negative quadratic function, with CT optimal velocities rated as more pleasant than slower and faster speeds. Simple regression analysis confirmed participants’ HF-HRV was significantly predicted by the quadratic curve fit of their touch ratings, with higher HF-HRV associated with a better quadratic fit.These findings indicate that, in line with previous observations that higher HF-HRV is associated with enhanced sensitivity to visual social cues, trait differences in autonomic control could account for previously reported individual differences in CT sensitivity.

Comparison of subjective evaluations in virtual and real environments for soundscape researcha).

Emerging technologies of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are enhancing soundscape research, potentially producing new insights by enabling controlled conditions while preserving the context of a virtual gestalt within the soundscape concept. This study explored the ecological validity of virtual environments for subjective evaluations in soundscape research, focusing on the authenticity of virtual audio-visual environments for reproducibility. Different technologies for creating and reproducing virtual environments were compared, including field recording, simulated VR, AR, and audio-only presentation, in two audio-visual reproduction settings, a head-mounted display with head-tracked headphones and a VR lab with head-locked headphones. Via a series of soundwalk- and lab-based experiments, the results indicate that field recording technologies provided the most authentic audio-visual environments, followed by AR, simulated VR, and audio-only approaches. The authenticity level influenced subjective evaluations of virtual environments, e.g., arousal/eventfulness and pleasantness. The field recording and AR-based technologies closely matched the on-site soundwalk ratings in arousal, while the other approaches scored lower. All the approaches had significantly lower pleasantness ratings compared to on-site evaluations. The choice of audio-visual reproduction technology did not significantly impact the evaluations. Overall, the results suggest virtual environments with high authenticity can be useful for future soundscape research and design.

Appetite, food intake, and gut hormone responses to glycomacropeptide protein ingestion in older adults: A feasibility, acceptability, and pilot study

Glycomacropeptide (GMP) has a unique amino acid profile which may make less satiating than other dietary proteins. This study assessed the feasibility and likely acceptability of a leucine-enriched GMP drink and determined appetite response in older adults (OA). Thirteen OA (11f; 70 ± 4 years) were recruited for sensory assessments of a leucine-enriched GMP drink when mixed with water and with fruit smoothie, compared with whey protein isolate (WHEY). Participants also partook in a single focus group exploring acceptability to protein and supplementation. Separately, a counterbalanced, double-blind study with twelve OA (8f; 69 ± 3 years) was conducted to determine appetite and gut hormone responses. Fasting subjective appetite was recorded using visual analogue scales and a fasted venous blood sample was collected (to measures acyl-ghrelin, PYY, GLP-1, and CCK) before participants consumed either: GMP protein (27g + 3g leucine, 350 mL water), WHEY (30g, 350 mL water), or water. Participants rested for 240 min, with appetite measures and blood sampling throughout. An ad libitum pasta-based meal was then consumed. Sensory testing revealed low pleasantness rating for GMP in water vs. WHEY (16 ± 14 vs 31 ± 24, p = 0.016). GMP addition to smoothie reduced pleasantness (26 ± 21 vs. 61 ± 29, p = 0.009) and worsened the aroma (46 ± 15 vs. 69 ± 28, p = 0.014). The focus group revealed uncertainty of protein needs and a scepticism of supplements, with preference for food. Gut hormone response did not differ between GMP and WHEY (nAUC for all gut hormones p > 0.05). There was no difference between conditions for lunch ad libitum intake (549 ± 171 kcal, 512 ± 238 kcal, 460 ± 199 kcal for GMP, WHEY, and water, p = 0.175), or for subjective appetite response. Leucine-enriched GMP was not less satiating than WHEY, and low palatability and scepticism of supplements question the likely acceptability of GMP supplementation. Providing trusted nutritional advice and food enrichment/fortification may be preferred strategies for increasing protein intake in OA.