Welge-Lüssen Antje, Drago Joan, Wolfensberger Markus, Hummel Thomas
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital Basel, Switzerland.
Brain Res. 2005 Mar 15;1038(1):69-75. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2005.01.011.
Taste and smell interact. The aim of this study was to examine this interaction using gustatory and olfactory stimuli applied at the same time, which exhibited perceptual compatibility and incompatibility.
Thirty-two, young, healthy normosmic subjects (16 men, 16 women) took part in two randomized sessions. Event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded in response to vanillin, or gaseous CO2. These two conditions were combined with three "taste conditions" including sweet taste, sour taste, and the intraoral presentation of an empty taste dispenser.
Vanillin responses were largest for the "sweet" condition, while they were smaller for the "sour condition". In contrast, responses to CO2 were largest under the "sour" condition, and smallest under the "sweet" condition. Moreover, during the "sweet" condition the latencies of P1 and N1 were shorter than in the "sour" condition, which was the other way around for CO2.
Results of the present investigation suggested that (1) the early processing of intranasal chemosensory stimuli is modulated through concomitant gustatory stimulation, and that (2) this modulation may depend, at least in part, on the contextual compatibility between intranasal and intraoral stimuli.
味觉和嗅觉相互作用。本研究的目的是通过同时施加味觉和嗅觉刺激来检验这种相互作用，这些刺激表现出感知上的兼容性和不兼容性。
32名年轻、健康的嗅觉正常受试者（16名男性，16名女性）参加了两个随机环节。记录对香草醛或气态二氧化碳的事件相关电位（ERP）。这两种情况与三种“味觉情况”相结合，包括甜味、酸味以及在口腔内呈现空的味觉分配器。
香草醛反应在“甜味”情况下最大，而在“酸味”情况下较小。相反，对二氧化碳的反应在“酸味”情况下最大，在“甜味”情况下最小。此外，在“甜味”情况下，P1和N1的潜伏期比“酸味”情况下短，而二氧化碳的情况则相反。
本研究结果表明：（1）鼻内化学感觉刺激的早期处理通过伴随的味觉刺激进行调节；（2）这种调节可能至少部分取决于鼻内和口腔内刺激之间的背景兼容性。
