title: Response Times to Gustatory-Olfactory Flavor Mixtures: Role of Congruence.
abstract: A mixture of perceptually congruent gustatory and olfactory flavorants (sucrose and citral) was previously shown to be detected faster than predicted by a model of probability summation that assumes stochastically independent processing of the individual gustatory and olfactory signals. This outcome suggests substantial integration of the signals. Does substantial integration also characterize responses to mixtures of incongruent flavorants? Here, we report simple response times (RTs) to detect brief pulses of 3 possible flavorants: monosodium glutamate, MSG (gustatory: "umami" quality), citral (olfactory: citrus quality), and a mixture of MSG and citral (gustatory-olfactory). Each stimulus (and, on a fraction of trials, water) was presented orally through a computer-operated, automated flow system, and subjects were instructed to press a button as soon as they detected any of the 3 non-water stimuli. Unlike responses previously found to the congruent mixture of sucrose and citral, responses here to the incongruent mixture of MSG and citral took significantly longer (RTs were greater) and showed lower detection rates than the values predicted by probability summation. This outcome suggests that the integration of gustatory and olfactory flavor signals is less extensive when the component flavors are perceptually incongruent rather than congruent, perhaps because incongruent flavors are less familiar.
authors: The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
authors: Timothy G
authors: TG
authors: Shepard
authors: The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, CT 06519, USA, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
authors: Maria G
authors: MG
authors: Veldhuizen
authors: The John B. Pierce Laboratory, New Haven, CT 06519, USA, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA and Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA marks@jbpierce.org.
authors: Lawrence E
authors: LE
authors: Marks
mesh_terms: D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D000328:Adult; D019540:Area Under Curve; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D005421:Flavoring Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000737:chemistry; D011336:Probability; D012372:ROC Curve; D011930:Reaction Time; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D012970:Sodium Glutamate / Q000737:chemistry; D013395:Sucrose / Q000737:chemistry; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000080462:Acyclic Monoterpenes; D005421:Flavoring Agents; D039821:Monoterpenes; D013395:Sucrose; C007076:citral; D012970:Sodium Glutamate
keywords: congruence; flavor; gustatory; mixtures; olfactory; response time