Taste as a basis for body wisdom.
Summary of "Taste as a basis for body wisdom."
The sense of taste uses a variety of discrete receptor mechanisms to identify nutrients and toxins. Information from receptors is arrayed along a dimension of physiological welfare, which serves as the organizing principle of the taste system. This, in turn, drives central physiological and neurochemical processes that underlie hedonics: nutrients elicit reward; toxins, aversion. The sensitivity of the taste system, and so the placement of chemical stimuli along the welfare dimension, is modifiable based on level of satiety, experience, or physiological need. These modifications may be sufficient to guide the animal's food choices according to those that satisfy its needs at the moment. Thus, judicious changes in taste sensitivity of the rodent may underlie the demonstrated behavior of body wisdom.
Affiliation
Office of Graduate and Research Affairs, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-8220, USA. tom.scott@sdsu.edu
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Physiology & behavior
ISSN: 1873-507X
Pages: 57-63
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21530560
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.04.016
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Taste Disorders
Conditions characterized by an alteration in gustatory function or perception. Taste disorders are frequently associated with OLFACTION DISORDERS. Additional potential etiologies include METABOLIC DISEASES; DRUG TOXICITY; and taste pathway disorders (e.g., TASTE BUD diseases; FACIAL NERVE DISEASES; GLOSSOPHARYNGEAL NERVE DISEASES; and BRAIN STEM diseases).
Taste Threshold
The minimum concentration at which taste sensitivity to a particular substance or food can be perceived.
Dysgeusia
A condition characterized by alterations of the sense of taste which may range from mild to severe, including gross distortions of taste quality.
Somatotypes
Particular categories of body build, determined on the basis of certain physical characteristics. The three basic body types are ectomorph (thin physique), endomorph (rounded physique), and mesomorph (athletic physique).
Taste Perception
The process by which the nature and meaning of gustatory stimuli are recognized and interpreted by the brain. The four basic classes of taste perception are salty, sweet, bitter, and sour.
PubMed Articles
Taste neophobia and c-Fos expression in the rat brain.
Taste neophobia refers to a reduction in consumption of a novel taste relative to when it is familiar. To gain more understanding of the neural basis of this phenomenon, the current study examined whe...
Understanding taste dysfunction in patients with cancer.
Taste dysfunction is a significant but underestimated issue for patients with cancer. Impaired taste results in changes in diet and appetite, early satiety, and impaired social interactions. Nurses ca...
The Relationship between Wisdom and Abstinence Behaviors in Women in Recovery from Substance Abuse.
Background and aims: Wisdom is theorized to be an important construct in recovery from substance abuse. In order to explore the role of wisdom in substance abuse recovery behaviors, the present study...
The molecular and cellular basis of bitter taste in Drosophila.
The extent of diversity among bitter-sensing neurons is a fundamental issue in the field of taste. Data are limited and conflicting as to whether bitter neurons are broadly tuned and uniform, resultin...
Taste Identification in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions.
Sensory issues are widely reported in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC). Since taste perception is one of the least studied senses in ASC we explored taste identification in adults with ASC (12 males,...
Clinical Trials
Taste Perception and Chronic Disease Risk
The purpose of the Taste Perception Study is to assess variations in the ability to taste and perceive sensations from various stimuli in younger (18-49 years) and older (50-85 years) volu...
Changes to taste and smell have been reported in head and neck cancer patients who undergo radiation and chemotherapy. This may cause food to be unappealing and can lead to a reduced food...
No pediatric formulations of quinine exist. Therefore, quinine tablets are broken into 2 or 4 parts, according to the body weight. Based on the body weight, 1/2 or 1/4 a tablet is administ...
Effects of Advertising on Young Children's Perception of Taste
To test whether young children’s actual taste preferences are influenced by the natural marketing environment in which they live. To do so, we tested whether preschool children would li...
Gustin Gene Polymorphism and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) Taste
The investigators investigate the possible association of PROP taste with gustin gene polymorphism rs2274333 (A/G), salivary zinc ion concentration and BMI.
