How Your Five Senses Can Be Tricked

For the most part, the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch are relatively straightforward. However, as investigated by a team of researchers from Philadelphia, sometimes the five senses can overlap. Led by Dr Mehmet Hakan Ozdener, the study explored the capacity of tastebuds to detect odours using specialised proteins. The findings suggest that the human tongue detect scents and build on the existing concept that the brain combines smell and taste to create overall flavour.

Hakan Ozdener predicts the study could unlock new possibilities for using volatised chemical compounds, i.e. scents, to promote healthier diets. For example, adding low-concentration sweet aromas to food to simulate the taste of sweetness and therefore reduce sugar intake.  

Blurring the line between taste, touch, sight, sound and smell

The line between smell and taste isn't the only one that's blurred, with previous research from the University of Oxford revealing that cutlery can have a significant impact on how the brain determines flavours. Interestingly, yogurt tastes sweeter when consumed using a white spoon as opposed to a black spoon, which suggests that the brain pre-emptively tastes foods before it enters the mouth.   

Human perception and senses can also be skewed when driving at night, which triggers a form of motion-induced blindness. When the eyes focus on oncoming traffic the red lights of cars in front temporarily disappear. This effect demonstrates how the brain can choose to ignore visual information when presented on a moving background.

The power of multi-sensory processing 

In a study pioneered by the University of Oxford, a team of researchers discovered that consistencies exist between smell and sound. They asked participants to match specific scents with musical instruments and found a clear correlation between the sound of a piano and the smell of fruit. Similarly, brass instruments were consistently associated with a musky odour. This link is supposedly caused by the olfactory tubercle, an area of the brain that responds to both smell and sound.

In 1976, British cognitive psychologist Harry McGurk discovered a cross-modal effect that demonstrates the impact hearing and vision have on speech perception. The illusion is prompted when the auditory element of a particular sound fuses with the visual element of another sound. This leads to the perception of a third sound, a phenomenon that was coined the McGurk effect.

For beer aficionados, taste is paramount. For a closer look at how companies test and monitor flavour compounds during the brewing process don't miss 'The Analysis of Flavours in Beer with ChromSync Software.