Influences of food-name labels on perceived tastes.

We examined whether food identity information presented as name labels would influence perception of basic tastes. To test this hypothesis, we used 10 aqueous taste solutions consisting of 2-3 of the 5 basic tastes in different ratios and presented them with one of these food names: "lemon," "coffee jelly," "caramel candy," and "consomme soup." Forty-six participants tasted samples presented with either food-name labels or random number labels. We found that participants who tasted samples with food-name labels rated tastes with significantly higher liking and familiarity scores than those presented with random numbers, especially when the names and tastes were perceived as being congruent. Though an effect on perceived intensity was not as prominent, we observed cases in which intensity ratings significantly changed. Effects of identity information have been shown in olfaction and flavors. This study demonstrates the first experimental evidence that identity information given as names also influence the perception of unimodal basic tastes.