Leaving a flat taste in your mouth. Task load reduces taste perception.

R.C. van der Wal, Lotte van Dillen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In recent years, people have tended to pay less attention to their meals, often consuming them while engaging in other activities. At the same time, foods have become increasingly sweet and salty. We therefore investigated how performing
concurrent activities affects taste perception and how this relates to actual consumption. Participants tasted sour, sweet, and salty substances in various concentrations under differing task loads. Our results demonstrated that under
high task load (relative to low task load), participants rated the substances as less intense, consumed more of the substances, and preferred stronger tastants. Our findings suggest that increased task load reduces people’s taste perception by limiting attentional capacity to assess taste intensity and that people adjust their consumption accordingly.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1277-1284
Number of pages8
JournalPsychological Science
Volume24
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 May 2013

Keywords

  • Taste perception
  • eating behavior
  • self-control

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