Haase Lori, Cerf-Ducastel Barbara, Murphy Claire
San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2009 Jul;71(5):1167-73. doi: 10.3758/APP.71.5.1167.
Classic psychophysical studies have provided significant information on the psychophysical functions for taste stimuli. With the advent of fMRI, studies are being conducted that provide insight into central processing of gustation in humans. However, fMRI experiments impose physical limitations on stimulus delivery. In the present study, we compared psychophysical functions relating perceived intensity to concentration, derived from previous studies that used the traditional sip-and-spit and dorsal flow delivery techniques, to psychophysical functions generated in this study using a simulated stimulus delivery technique (SSDT). The SSDT delivered minute quantities of taste stimuli to the dorsal surface of the tongue, just as in an fMRI scanner. As was hypothesized, the results indicated that slopes of intensity functions were dependent on the type of stimulus delivery technique. The SSDT resulted in slopes that were more similar to those generated by dorsal flow than by sip-and-spit stimulus delivery techniques, suggesting the importance of considering the influence of stimulus delivery on psychophysical response in designing and interpreting experiments.
经典的心理物理学研究已经提供了关于味觉刺激心理物理功能的重要信息。随着功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的出现，正在进行的研究为人类味觉的中枢处理提供了深入见解。然而，fMRI实验对刺激传递施加了物理限制。在本研究中，我们将先前使用传统的啜饮-吐出和背侧流传递技术的研究中得出的、将感知强度与浓度相关联的心理物理功能，与本研究中使用模拟刺激传递技术（SSDT）生成的心理物理功能进行了比较。SSDT将微量的味觉刺激传递到舌背表面，就像在fMRI扫描仪中一样。正如所假设的那样，结果表明强度函数的斜率取决于刺激传递技术的类型。与啜饮-吐出刺激传递技术相比，SSDT产生的斜率与背侧流产生的斜率更相似，这表明在设计和解释实验时考虑刺激传递对心理物理反应的影响非常重要。
