Neurogastronomy

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Neurogastronomy is the study of

olfaction contributes to flavor, food addiction and obesity, taste preferences, and the linguistics of communicating and identifying flavor. The term neurogastronomy was coined by neuroscientist Gordon M. Shepherd.[1]

Olfaction and flavor

Mitral cells 3: Bone 4: Nasal epithelium 5: Glomerulus 6: Olfactory receptor neurons

Out of all the sensory modalities, olfaction contributes most to the sensation and perception of flavor processing. Olfaction has two sensory modalities,

mastication.[2] It is retronasal smell, whose sensation is felt in the mouth, that contributes to flavor perception.[1] Anthropologically, over human evolution, the shortening of the nasopharynx and other shifts in bone structure suggest a constant improvement of flavor perception capabilities.[1]

After mastication, odor molecules travel through the back of the mouth and up the nasopharynx.

mitral cells stemming from the glomerular layer.[3][1]

This input then reaches the olfactory cortex. Here,

Hebbian learning networks allow for recall with partial or weak stimuli, indicating the first stage of conscious perception.[3] Here, connections with the hypothalamus and hippocampus indicate that olfaction stimuli affect emotion, decision making, and learning only after significant processing and rudimentary identification.[1]

Decision making

The hedonic value of food and its decision making relies on several concurrent neural processes. The attentional drive to seek and consume food is modulated by homeostatic signaling of hunger and satiety. Habit, social interactions, and nutritional needs affect this signaling. Analysis of non-human primates' orbitofrontal cortex suggests decision making is additionally modulated by food identification, independent of hunger. Activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and anterior singulate suggest that an affective value is assigned to every food identification. Hedonic pleasure increases when engaging with food consumption and peaks during satiety. Impairments in these systems greatly impact the ability to resist the urge to eat.[4] Imaging studies show that obese subjects with impairment in dopamine circuits that regulate hedonic value have issues with reward sensitivity and resist functional homeostatic signals that normally would prevent overeating.[5]

The consumption of comfort foods can facilitate feelings of relational connection and belonging, and the motivation behind pursuing certain foods can be modulated by social context and environment.[6]

Although the consumption of spicy food can cause pain, people in many cultures ascribe a high hedonic value to it. Psychologist Paul Rozin puts forth the idea of "benign masochism", a learned tendency that overrides the typically aversive stimuli because of the risk-taking or thrill-seeking associated with overcoming pain.[7]

Learned flavor preferences

Learned taste preferences develop as early as in utero, where the fetus is exposed to flavors through amniotic fluid. Early, innate, preferences exhibit tendencies towards calorie and protein dense foods. As children grow older, more factors such as peers, repeated exposures, environments and food availability will modulate taste preferences.[8]

Describing odors

While naming a flavor or food refines its representation strengthens its recall in memory,[9] the patterns and tendencies in word choice to describe flavor suggests limits to the our perception and communication.[10] In describing the flavor of wine, tasters tend to use words that function as a combination of visual and texture descriptors, and references to objects with similar odorant profiles.[10] Color perception heavily influences the word choice describing a flavor; the color of word's semantic reference is often congruent with the food's color when the taster can see the food.[11]

Clinical and other academic translations

With neurogastronomy's roots in neuroscience and psychology, clinical translation into research in obesity, diabetes, hypertension, eating disorders, chemoreceptive deficits in cancer treatments, etc. are explored in clinical neurogastronomy.

Frédéric Morin, Tim McClintock, Bob Perry, Charles Spence, Jehangir Mehta, Kelsey Rahenkamp, Siddharth Kapoor, Ouita Michel, and Bret Smith formed the International Society of Neurogastronomy (ISN). ISN is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.[14] The inaugural meeting addressed multiple aspects of neurogastronomy concepts, and focused on its clinical translation including quality of life issues in cancer treatment and related smell and taste deficits, then followed by application into treatments for diabetes. Additional translational efforts included food technology, agriculture, climate change, and culinary arts.[15]

References

  1. ^
    OCLC 882238865
    .
  2. ^
    PMID 7110896
    .
  3. ^
    OCLC 844328507.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  4. ISSN 2044-7248
    .
  5. PMID 21109477
    .
  6. S2CID 43102417
    .
  7. ^ "22nd APS Annual Convention (2010) - Presidential Symposium - Paul Rozin". Vimeo. Retrieved 2017-05-09.
  8. PMID 23660363
    .
  9. OCLC 956771635.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  10. ^
    S2CID 34627633
    .
  11. S2CID 10002492
    .
  12. ^ "A Matter of Taste".
  13. ^ "Clinical neurogastronomy for quality of life outcomes". 18 November 2015.
  14. ^ "International Society of Neurogastronomy".
  15. ^ "Birth of a Neurogastronomy Nation: The Inaugural Symposium of the International Society of Neurogastronomy".

External links

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