Memory Load Influences Taste Sensitivities

• Main Authors: Pei Liang, Jiayu Jiang, Qingguo Ding, Xiaoyan Tang, Soumyajit Roy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-12-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: cross-modal; memory load; cognitive status; sweetness perception; bitterness perception
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02533/full

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.