Impact of novel olfactory stimuli at supra and subthreshold concentrations on the perceived sweetness of sucrose after associative learning

Abstract

The impact of coexposure to a novel olfactory stimulation in combination with sweet taste on the construction of perceptual interaction was studied. The first objective was to explore whether a new flavoring perceived retronasally at a subthreshold concentration could enhance the perceived sweetness after a coexposure with sucrose using an approach encouraging associative learning. After validating the associative learning by showing an increase of the perceived sweetness by the flavoring at a suprathreshold concentration, we showed that the flavoring stimulation did not impact the perceived sweetness when presented at a subthreshold concentration. The second objective was to validate the absence of associative learning when subjects were exposed to the sucrose flavored solution in a context of coexposure akin to sensory profiling training. As expected, we confirmed that coexposure following sensory profiling training did not promote associative learning, probably because this approach encouraged subjects to consider the olfactory and sweet taste combination as a set of distinct qualities. The potential role of neural integration processes in these results was discussed. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.