Oral perception of the temperature of liquids

Abstract

The ability of humans to sense the thermal characteristics of liquids held in the mouth was measured in two experiments. It was found in the first experiment that warming was sensed more strongly than cooling when the suprathreshold oral response to warm and cold liquids was compared in terms of the heat transferred between the oral mucosa and the liquid. The second experiment extended the investigation to threshold and again found warming to be perceived more readily than cooling. These results contrast with earlier findings from studies of local thermal sensitivity that indicated the mouth was more uniformly sensitive to cooling than to warming. It is proposed that the occurrence of spatial summation in the warmth sense and the relatively high resting temperature of the mouth predispose the oral cavity to be sensitive to increases in skin temperature. © 1986 Psychonomic Society, Inc.