Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

The Physiology of Taste01:24

The Physiology of Taste

The perception of a salty flavor is facilitated by sodium ions within the oral salivary fluid. Upon consumption of a salty substance, salt crystals disassemble, leading to the liberation of its constituents—Na+ and Cl- ions. These ions subsequently dissolve into the salivary fluid present in the oral cavity. The external environment of the gustatory cells experiences an elevation in Na+ concentration, thereby establishing a potent concentration gradient. This gradient propels the diffusion of...
Gustation01:43

Gustation

Gustation is a chemical sense that, along with olfaction (smell), contributes to our perception of taste. It starts with the activation of receptors by chemical compounds (tastants) dissolved in the saliva. The saliva and filiform papillae on the tongue distribute the tastants and increase their exposure to the taste receptors.
Taste Buds and Receptors01:20

Taste Buds and Receptors

Gustation, or the sense of taste, is intrinsically linked to the anatomical structures located on the tongue. This organ's surface, along with the entirety of the oral cavity, is adorned with stratified squamous epithelium. Evident on the tongue are elevated structures known as papillae (singular = papilla), which house the mechanisms for the transduction of gustatory stimuli. Four distinct types of papillae exist, each identified by their unique morphological attributes: the circumvallate,...
Conditioned Taste Aversion01:14

Conditioned Taste Aversion

Conditioned taste aversion, also known as sauce béarnaise syndrome, is a phenomenon in which an individual develops an aversion to a certain food taste following a negative experience, typically illness. This form of aversion is a type of classical conditioning in which the taste of the food (conditioned stimulus, CS) is associated with the experience of illness (unconditioned stimulus, UCS).
A notable characteristic of conditioned taste aversion is that it often requires only a single exposure...
Tactile and Chemical Senses01:27

Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex. This...
Olfaction01:25

Olfaction

The sense of smell is achieved through the activities of the olfactory system. It starts when an airborne odorant enters the nasal cavity and reaches olfactory epithelium (OE). The OE is protected by a thin layer of mucus, which also serves the purpose of dissolving more complex compounds into simpler chemical odorants. The size of the OE and the density of sensory neurons varies among species; in humans, the OE is only about 9-10 cm2.
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Is High Fat and Sugar Intake Associated with Disrupted Attentional-Motivational Coupling for Food? Evidence from an Eye Tracking Study.

Brain sciences·2026
Same author

Testing a learning-based account of interoceptive hunger using an illusory induction.

Appetite·2026
Same author

Psychological induction of interoceptive states.

Consciousness and cognition·2026
Same author

Sound source ambiguity augments illusory mislocalisation of computer presented stomach rumbles to self.

Psychological research·2025
Same author

Evaluating psychological accounts of diet-related mood improvements using novel control conditions.

Appetite·2025
Same author

Using a bodily illusion to examine the motivational basis of interoceptive hunger cues.

Psychological research·2025

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
09:17

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults

Published on: July 16, 2016

Differential context effects between sweet tastes and smells.

Richard J Stevenson1, Mehmet Mahmut

  • 1Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia. dick.stevenson@mq.edu.au

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics
|November 25, 2010
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sweet tastes and smells show similar perception but distinct context effects. These differential context effects (DCEs) persist regardless of perceptual similarity, suggesting a subcortical origin.

More Related Videos

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test
08:52

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test

Published on: April 21, 2021

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test
07:10

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test

Published on: August 17, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 6, 2026

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults
09:17

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Measure Taste Preferences in Children and Adults

Published on: July 16, 2016

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test
08:52

Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test

Published on: April 21, 2021

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test
07:10

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test

Published on: August 17, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychophysics
  • Sensory Science

Background:

  • Sweet tastes and smells are perceptually similar and share some central processing pathways.
  • However, they do not produce interchangeable contextual effects in psychophysical experiments.
  • Differential Context Effects (DCEs) occur where taste intensity perception is modulated by preceding tastes or smells.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if differences in sweetness intensity scaling between tastes and smells contribute to DCEs.
  • To determine if DCEs are smaller for sweet tastes and sweet smells compared to sweet tastes and non-sweet smells.
  • To explore the origin of DCEs, questioning their psychological or central basis.

Main Methods:

  • Psychophysical experiments were conducted to assess taste and smell perception.
  • Differential Context Effects (DCEs) were measured using varying concentrations of sweet tastes and smells.
  • Comparisons were made between sweet tastes/sweet smells and sweet tastes/non-sweet smells.

Main Results:

  • Differential Context Effects (DCEs) were consistently observed between sweet tastes and sweet smells.
  • These DCEs were present even when using complementary stimulus sets (e.g., weak taste, strong smell).
  • The magnitude of DCEs did not appear to depend on the specific scaling of sweetness intensity or perceptual similarity.

Conclusions:

  • DCEs between sweet tastes and smells are robust and independent of perceptual similarity.
  • The findings suggest that DCEs are unlikely to be psychological or centrally mediated.
  • Results imply a potential subcortical origin for these taste-smell interaction effects.