Stevenson Richard J, Mahmut Mehmet K
Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2011 Jan;136(1):60-6. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2010.10.001. Epub 2010 Oct 28.
One consequence of experiencing flavour - the combination of taste, smell and somatosensation that occurs during ingestion - is that it can result in perceptual changes for the odour component, when this is later smelled alone. One such change is the acquisition of taste-like properties, but whether odours can also acquire somatosensory-like qualities is largely unknown. Participants here were exposed to one odour sampled in a viscous solution, another sampled in a sweet/viscous solution, and a further odour sampled in water. The odour sampled in the sweet/viscous solution was, when later sniffed alone, judged to smell thicker and sweeter, than the other two odours. Similarly, when the sweet/viscous paired odour was added to a viscous solution, the combination was judged as more viscous, than the other two odours - and sweeter when added to a sweet solution. This experiment suggests that odours can acquire tactile-like somatosensory qualities and this may best occur when a taste is present during learning. Recent work indicates that tastes may be superior to somatosensory stimuli alone in promoting flavour binding, a seeming precondition for this type of learning.
体验味道（摄入过程中味觉、嗅觉和躯体感觉的结合）的一个后果是，当之后单独闻气味成分时，它会导致气味成分的感知变化。一种这样的变化是获得类似味道的特性，但气味是否也能获得类似躯体感觉的特性在很大程度上尚不清楚。这里的参与者接触了一种在粘性溶液中采样的气味、另一种在甜/粘性溶液中采样的气味，以及另一种在水中采样的气味。在甜/粘性溶液中采样的气味，当之后单独嗅闻时，被判定比其他两种气味闻起来更浓郁、更甜。同样，当将甜/粘性配对的气味添加到粘性溶液中时，这种组合被判定比其他两种气味更粘稠——当添加到甜味溶液中时更甜。该实验表明，气味可以获得类似触觉的躯体感觉特性，并且当学习过程中有味道存在时，这种情况可能最容易发生。最近的研究表明，在促进味道结合方面，味道可能比单独的躯体感觉刺激更具优势，而味道结合似乎是这种学习类型的一个先决条件。
