The Temporal Automated System for Taste Experiments (TASTE)

Abstract

We describe a new, open flow device for presenting taste stimuli to human subjects under controlled conditions of timing. The device delivers each stimulus as a mist to the participant's tongue through one of 16 nozzles attached to a linear slide. Software controls the position of the slide, the duration of the stimulus, and the duration of the pre-and poststimulus water rinses and records the responses of the participant. Temporal characteristicsof this system make it especially applicable to studies on the role of attention in taste perception.

The tongue map and the spatial modulation of taste perception

“…Perhaps the larger point to bear in mind here, though, is that in order to try and understand the fundamental mechanisms underlying gustatory perception, traditional taste psychophysics has typically tended to consider local, targeted, passive stimulation by isolated gustatory stimuli rather than the situation of whole mouth active stimulation by a range of different chemosensory stimuli as is normally the case during everyday tasting and food consumption (see Colvin et al, 2018 ; see also Delwiche et al, 2000 ; Collings et al, 1976 ). Here, one might onsider the flow system designed for taste research (e.g., Pfaffmann, 1935 ; see also Ashkenazi et al, 2004 ; McBurney, 1969 ).…”

Response Times to Gustatory–Olfactory Flavor Mixtures: Role of Congruence

“…Following the procedure of Veldhuizen et al (2010), we measured simple RTs to citral, MSG and citral-MSG mixtures with our automated taste delivery system (Ashkenazi et al 2004), modified to operate at low pressure and present stimuli through titanium nozzles (Veldhuizen et al 2010). At the beginning of the sessions, the subjects were seated in an adjustable chair so they could comfortably rest their tongue on a Teflon guide located just below the metal casing of the oral interface.…”

“…Recently, we reported evidence of substantial integration of signals arising from gustatory and olfactory components of flavor mixtures (Veldhuizen et al 2010). In that study, using our automated taste delivery system (Ashkenazi et al 2004), we asked subjects to respond as quickly as possible when they detected any of 3 possible flavorants: the gustatory flavorant sucrose, the olfactory flavorant citral, or their mixture (but not respond to a fourth possible stimulus, water). Response times (RTs) to the sucrose-citral mixture were smaller than RTs predicted by a model of probability summation that assumes statistically independent processing of responses to the gustatory and olfactory components.…”

Challenges in relating concentrations of aromas and tastes with flavor features of foods

“…Therefore, the great challenge is to develop artificial systems mimicking the chemical senses of humans, aiming to obtain a sensing system for the quality control of taste (Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti et al, 2010;Singh et al, 2009). There are systems that can be used for a variety of applications in which accurate stimulus control is desired (Ashkenazi et al, 2004;Bagla et al, 1997;Hebhardt et al, 1999;Tunsuriyawong et al, 2000), e.g., in studies of the spatial and temporal properties of gustatory functions of various tongue regions. In this regard, some of the most popular biomimetic systems are the electronic tongues (e-tongues), which involve the use of a non-specific sensors array coupled with an appropriate chemometric tool for data processing (Figure 6).…”