Inter-individual differences in taste:
6-n-propylthiouracil – PROP
Phenylthiocarbamide – PTC
PROP —> 75% tasters (including 25% of super-tasters) versus 25% non-tasters.
Gene expression of TAS2R38 (Taste receptor 2 member 38) determines an individuals perception to these compounds.
Inter-individual differences in taste (2):
PROP tasking ability is often used as a marker of bitter sensitivity, and has been linked (imperfectly) to:
- Vegetable liking
- Fat perception
- Oral somatosensation
- Food neophobia and picking eating
Taste preference:
Taste quality presence is believed to be innate? Universal preference that does not happen with other modalities, colour? Preference for taste intensity is however highly varied across people.
Taste preference (2):
Sweet-Liker-Status Clusters (SLS), individuals can be grouped into sweet-likers, dislikes, neutral (inverted U shape on graphs)
Learning and conditioning of tastes:
Taste (flavour) preferences are learned rapidly. CONDITIONED TASTED AVERSION: Experiment —> Rats associated tastes with illness induced radiation (causes nausea) —> single-trial learning —> life-long effect —-> role of novelty: the flavour, food, or drink must be unfamiliar for the rats to develop a learned aversion.
Learning and conditioning of tastes (2):
Nutrient conditioning: Interconnected biological processes that regulate food preferences and appetite based on the post ingestive nutritional value of food. Flavour paired with calories is reinforcer, sugar is the most powerfully reinforcer, better than cocaine for mice sometimes!
Mental imagery of tastes:
Mental imagery —> cognitive process of developing a sensory stimulus in mind without external stimuli. Visual MI referred to as ‘minds-eye’ and extensively studied — but is there a minds tongue?
Flavour, smell or taste, MI —> can be closely linked to eating behaviour — like food cravings.
