TY - JOUR
T1 - EEG discrimination of perceptually similar tastes
AU - Andersen, Camilla Arndal
AU - Kring, Marianne Leonard
AU - Andersen, Rasmus Holm
AU - Larsen, Ole Næsbye
AU - Kjær, Troels Wesenberg
AU - Kidmose, Ulla
AU - Møller, Stine
AU - Kidmose, Preben
N1 - This article also appears in: Studying Human Gustation: A Multidisciplinary Approach
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Perceptually similar stimuli, despite not being consciously distinguishable, may result in distinct cortical brain activations. Hypothesizing that perceptually similar tastes are discriminable by electroencephalography (EEG), we recorded 22 human participants’ response to equally intense sweet-tasting stimuli: caloric sucrose, low-caloric aspartame, and a low-caloric mixture of aspartame and acesulfame K. Time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis of the 128-channel EEG was used to discriminate the taste responses at single-trial level. Supplementing the EEG study, we also performed a behavioral study to assess the participants’ perceptual ability to discriminate the taste stimuli by a triangle test of all three taste pair combinations. The three taste stimuli were found to be perceptually similar or identical in the behavioral study, yet discriminable from 0.08 to 0.18 s by EEG analysis. Comparing the participants’ responses in the EEG and behavioral study, we found that brain responses to perceptually similar tastes are discriminable, and we also found evidence suggesting that perceptually identical tastes are discriminable by the brain. Moreover, discriminability of brain responses was related to individual participants’ perceptual ability to discriminate the tastes. We did not observe a relation between brain response discriminability and calorie content of the taste stimuli. Thus, besides demonstrating discriminability of perceptually similar and identical tastes with EEG, we also provide the first proof of a functional relation between brain response and perception of taste stimuli at individual level.
AB - Perceptually similar stimuli, despite not being consciously distinguishable, may result in distinct cortical brain activations. Hypothesizing that perceptually similar tastes are discriminable by electroencephalography (EEG), we recorded 22 human participants’ response to equally intense sweet-tasting stimuli: caloric sucrose, low-caloric aspartame, and a low-caloric mixture of aspartame and acesulfame K. Time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis of the 128-channel EEG was used to discriminate the taste responses at single-trial level. Supplementing the EEG study, we also performed a behavioral study to assess the participants’ perceptual ability to discriminate the taste stimuli by a triangle test of all three taste pair combinations. The three taste stimuli were found to be perceptually similar or identical in the behavioral study, yet discriminable from 0.08 to 0.18 s by EEG analysis. Comparing the participants’ responses in the EEG and behavioral study, we found that brain responses to perceptually similar tastes are discriminable, and we also found evidence suggesting that perceptually identical tastes are discriminable by the brain. Moreover, discriminability of brain responses was related to individual participants’ perceptual ability to discriminate the tastes. We did not observe a relation between brain response discriminability and calorie content of the taste stimuli. Thus, besides demonstrating discriminability of perceptually similar and identical tastes with EEG, we also provide the first proof of a functional relation between brain response and perception of taste stimuli at individual level.
KW - gustatory evoked potentials
KW - multivariate pattern analysis of EEG
KW - quantitative EEG analysis
KW - subliminal taste perception
KW - sweetening agents
U2 - 10.1002/jnr.24281
DO - 10.1002/jnr.24281
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 30080270
AN - SCOPUS:85052438876
SN - 0360-4012
VL - 97
SP - 241
EP - 252
JO - Journal of Neuroscience Research
JF - Journal of Neuroscience Research
IS - 3
ER -