Lecture 22 - Flavour Preference Learning

Question 1

What 4 components make up flavour?

Answer 1

Taste; odour; texture; trigeminal (hot/spicey; mediates pain)

Question 2

Which two routes do odours reach the olfactory receptors through?

Answer 2

1. Orthonasally (via nostrils)

2. Restronasally (via channel at back of throat)

Question 3

Is there an innate hedonic reaction to odours?

Answer 3

NO

We learn our reactions to odours, even disgusting ones such as faeces

Question 4

Flavour-flavour learning

Answer 4

Pair a flavour with something sweet, e.g. saccharin, and animals learn to prefer that flavour.

Question 5

Flavour-calorie learning

Answer 5

Animals drink a non-nutritious flavour and a pump delivers high calories starch into the stomach, so non FF learning but animal still prefers the flavour followed by calorie pump

Question 6

Does flavour-flavour demonstrate extinction?

Answer 6

No, FF learning is resistant to extinction.

Question 7

Does flavour-calorie demonstrate extinction?

Answer 7

YES, FC extinguishes rapidly

Question 8

Human flavour-caffeine assoications?

Answer 8

There is a greater enhancement of flavour preference for caffeine if it is paired with sweetness, and if caffeine is paired with a bitter flavour as the caffeine cancels the effect of the bitterness so that there is no change in flavour pleasure (i.e. both sweetness and caffeine have an additive effect in flavour liking).