Taste of breath: the temporal order of taste and smell synchronized with breathing as a determinant for taste and olfactory integration

Abstract

Many studies have reported that subjective taste intensity is enhanced by odors which are congruent, for example a sweet taste and a vanilla odor. Some reports have suggested that subjective taste is more strongly enhanced by retronasal than by orthonasal odors; others have suggested that taste enhancements by both odor routes are identical. Differences between the two routes include the direction of airflow accompanying breath. Thus, it is possible that the order of gustatory and olfactory stimuli when breathing through either route while drinking is a determining factor for taste-odor integration. To reveal the natural relationship between taste intensity enhancement by odors and breath, synchronization of odor stimulation with the breath is necessary. Here, we examined whether the enhancement of a sweet taste is induced by a vanilla odor presented in various combinations of odor routes, immediately before and immediately after drinking. The results showed that a retronasal odor after drinking enhanced taste, but an orthonasal odor before drinking did not. The retronasal odor before drinking and the orthonasal odor after drinking did not enhance the sweet taste. These results show that congruency with the natural order of stimulus and kinetic sensation is a determining factor for odor-induced taste enhancement.

Contributors

Yuji Wada: [e-mail]

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sci Rep

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sci Rep

Title: Scientific Reports

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 2045-2322

Publication date (Electronic): 21 August 2017

Publication date PMC-release: 21 August 2017

Publication date Collection: 2017

Volume: 7

Affiliations

[1 ]ISNI 0000 0000 8863 9909, GRID grid.262576.2, , BKC Research Organization of Social Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, ; 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577 Japan

[2 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2222 0432, GRID grid.416835.d, , Laboratory of Sensory Science, Food Research Institute, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, ; 2-1-12, Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642 Japan

[3 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2151 536X, GRID grid.26999.3d, , Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, ; 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656 Japan

[4 ]ISNI 0000 0001 2230 7538, GRID grid.208504.b, , Human Technology Research Inst., National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), ; Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba Ibaraki, 305-8566 Japan

[5 ]Advanced Materials & Technology Research, Corporate Research & Development Division, Takasago International Corporation, 1-4-11 Nishiyawata, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 254-0073 Japan

[6 ]ISNI 0000 0000 8863 9909, GRID grid.262576.2, , College of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, ; 1-1-1 Noji-higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577 Japan

Article

Publisher ID: 7285

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-07285-7

PMC ID: 5566545

PubMed ID: 28827648

Copyright statement: © The Author(s) 2017

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Categories

Subject: Article

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