Changes in salt taste in dialysis and their relationship to blood constituents

Taste sensitivity for sodium chloride in solution and sensitivity and preference for sodium chloride in bread were measured in 14 male patients undergoing hemodialysis. There was an increase in sensitivity to salt taste following dialysis only when assessed using the bread samples. Patients on a lower sodium diet were more sensitive to salt taste in bread. Although the taste changes were not related to the decreases in serum sodium or to copper, greater increases in sensitivity were related to greater increases in serum zinc during dialysis.     

Intensity scales for pure tastes and for taste mixtures

In four series of studies, taste intensities of sour, bitter, sweet, and salt were measured by number matching (magnitude estimation), and by noise matching. The two procedures agreed in their estimates of the power-function exponent for each taste. Representative exponents obtained from the studies are 1.0 to 1.1 for sour and bitter and 1.3 to 1.5 for sweet and salt. In a second set of studies each taste was judged against three or more background levels of a second taste. The results suggest that the power-function exponent is unaffected when a second taste is present in the solution. Whether the intercept changes in taste mixtures was not determined in these experiments.     

The role of pre-exposure to novel food tastes in activity-based conditioned taste avoidance

Rats were given differential exposure to three distinct and novel foods. One of these foods was exposed for 7 days; another for 2 days, and the last was not exposed. Next, half of the rats received six daily sessions in which a compound of the three flavors was followed by opportunities to run in wheels. The other rats received the food compound but without wheel running. On the next day, all rats were given a choice among the three food flavors presented concurrently in separate dishes. When the compound food had been followed by wheel running, rats ate little of the food given no pre-exposure, more of the food given 2 days of pre-exposure, and considerably more of the food given 7 days of pre-exposure. In comparison, rats who did not receive an opportunity to run ate equal and moderate amounts of the three foods. The results suggest that pre-exposure to a food’s taste produces latent inhibition that interferes with conditioned taste avoidance produced by pairing a taste (CS) with wheel running (US).     

study of taste perception

Taste stimulus identification was studied in order to more thoroughly examine human taste perception. Ten replicates of an array of 10 taste stimuli—NaCl, KCl, Na glutamate, quinine.HCl, citric acid, sucrose, aspartame, and NaCl-sucrose, acid-sucrose, and quinine-sucrose mixtures—were presented to normal subjects for identification from a list of corresponding stimulus names. Because perceptually similar substances are confused in identification tasks, the result was ataste confusion matrix. Consistency of identification for the 10 stimuli (T ₁₀) and for each stimulus pair (T ₂) was quantified with measures derived from information theory. Forty-two untrained subjects made an average of 57.4% correct identifications. An averageT ₁₀ of 2.25 of the maximum 3.32 bits and an averageT ₂ of 0.84 of a maximum 1.0 bit of information were transmitted. In a second experiment, 40 trained subjects per-formed better than 20 untrained subjects. The results suggested that the identification procedure may best be used to assess taste function following 1–2 training replicates. The patterns of taste confusion indicate that the 10 stimuli resemble one another to varying extents, yet each can be considered perceptually unique.     

A confusion matrix for the study of taste perception

Taste stimulus identification was studied in order to more thoroughly examine human taste perception. Ten replicates of an array of 10 taste stimuli--NaCl, KCl, Na glutamate, quinine. HCl, citric acid, sucrose, aspartame, and NaCl-sucrose, acid-sucrose, and quinine-sucrose mixtures--were presented to normal subjects for identification from a list of corresponding stimulus names. Because perceptually similar substances are confused in identification tasks, the result was a taste confusion matrix. Consistency of identification for the 10 stimuli (T10) and for each stimulus pair (T2) was quantified with measures derived from information theory. Forty-two untrained subjects made an average of 57.4% correct identifications. An average T10 of 2.25 of the maximum 3.32 bits and an average T2 of 0.84 of a maximum 1.0 bit of information were transmitted. In a second experiment, 40 trained subjects performed better than 20 untrained subjects. The results suggested that the identification procedure may best be used to assess taste function following 1-2 training replicates. The patterns of taste confusion indicate that the 10 stimuli resemble one another to varying extents, yet each can be considered perceptually unique.     

Categorical speech perception deficits distinguish language and reading impairments in children

We examined categorical speech perception in school‐age children with developmental dyslexia or Specific Language Impairment (SLI), compared to age‐matched and younger controls. Stimuli consisted of synthetic speech tokens in which place of articulation varied from ‘b’ to ‘d’. Children were tested on categorization, categorization in noise, and discrimination. Phonological awareness skills were also assessed to examine whether these correlated with speech perception measures. We observed similarly good baseline categorization rates across all groups; however, when noise was added, the SLI group showed impaired categorization relative to controls, whereas dyslexic children showed an intact profile. The SLI group showed poorer than expected between‐category discrimination rates, whereas this pattern was only marginal in the dyslexic group. Impaired phonological awareness profiles were observed in both the SLI and dyslexic groups; however, correlations between phonological awareness and speech perception scores were not significant. The results of the study suggest that in children with language and reading impairments, there is a significant relationship between receptive language and speech perception, there is at best a weak relationship between reading and speech perception, and indeed the relationship between phonological and speech perception deficits is highly complex.     

Manipulating basic taste perception to explore how product information affects experience

We introduce a novel physiologically-based methodology to consumer research—using the glycoprotein miraculin to manipulate the ability to sense and perceive specific taste elements in gustatory experiences. We apply this approach to exploring how information extrinsic (e.g., product reviews) to a product's inherent sensory facets influences reported consumption experiences and experienced utility. Results from two experiments suggest that extrinsic information distorts the basic sensory and perceptual character of consumption experiences, rather than simply biasing self-reports of the experiences or serving as an independent input to overall taste and utility evaluations. Such evaluations are distorted in the direction of extrinsic product information only when the ability to actually perceive the experience as being consistent with the extrinsic signal is not disrupted by miraculin. Conversely, disruption by miraculin of the ability to perceive an experience as being consistent with an extrinsic signal ablates or reverses such effects. Implications, applications to brands and branding, and other possible research directions for the miraculin taste-manipulation methodology are also discussed.     

Time perception and its relationship to memory in Autism Spectrum Conditions

Timing is essential for the development of cognitive skills known to be impaired in Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), such as social cognition and episodic memory abilities. Despite the proposal that timing impairments may underpin core features of ASC, few studies have examined temporal processing in ASC and they have produced conflicting results. The present study first addressed discrepancies between previous experiments before testing the assumption that timing impairments may underpin key aspects of autism, by relating differences in temporal processing in the ASC group to memory abilities. Errors in duration reproduction in high functioning children with ASC were observed for the shortest and longest duration tested. While the former was due to attentional factors, the latter was due to deficient timing related to atypical episodic memory processing. These findings suggest that temporal processing abilities play a key role in the poor development of both social cognition and episodic memory abilities associated with ASC.     

Effects of taste quality and intensity on oral perception of viscosity

Oral assessments of viscosity were obtained with the method of magnitude estimation. Subjects judged the viscosity of a series of aqueous solutions thickened to one of six viscosity levels (1–2025 centistokes) with a food-grade gum, sodium carboxymethylcellulose. The solutions contained one of several concentrations of caffeine, citric acid, sodium chloride, or sucrose. The presence of taste substances significantly altered the perception of solution viscosity for only the thickest solutions. Increasing concentrations of citric acid and sodium chloride produced progressive decreases in perceived viscosity, and increasing sucrose concentrations produced small increases in perceived viscosity. Caffeine did not affect judgments of solution viscosity. The most likely explanation for these findings is that subjects detected differences in the Newtonian behavior of the thickened solutions, differences that were produced by the addition of taste substances.     

Depth perception of elementary school students with qualitatively evidenced locomotor impairments

The purpose of the study was to examine differences in depth perception of students classified according to their gross locomotor skills. The seven qualitative gross locomotor tasks of Ulrich's Test of Gross and Motor Development were used to classify 162 students as either motor impaired (n1 =27) or nonimpaired (n2= 135). The Howard Dollman Apparatus was used to measure depth perception. Analysis showed that the motor-impaired group scored significantly lower than the nonimpaired group on depth perception. Discriminant function analysis indicated that only the running task separated the students by depth perception scores. Subsequent multiple regression analysis confirmed that the running task, along with sliding and galloping, were significant predictors of the students' perception of the third dimension. Physical educators working with students with gross locomotor impairments or low perception of the third dimension need to adjust their teaching and offer opportunities for successful involvement in physical education classes and sports.     

The contextual action relationship between a tool and its action recipient modulates their joint perception

Facilitatory effects have been noted between tools and the objects that they act upon (their “action recipients”) across several paradigms. However, it has not been convincingly established that the motor system is directly involved in the joint visual processing of these object pairings. Here, we used the attentional blink (AB) paradigm to demonstrate privileged access to perceptual awareness for tool–action recipient object pairs and to investigate how motor affordances modulate their joint processing. We demonstrated a reduction in the size of the AB that was greater for congruent tool–action recipient pairings (e.g., hammer–nail) than for incongruent pairings (e.g., scissors–nail). Moreover, the AB was reduced only when action recipients followed their associated tool in the temporal sequence, but not when this order was reversed. Importantly, we also found that the effect was sensitive to manipulations of the motor congruence between the tool and the action recipient. First, we observed a greater reduction in the AB when the tool and action recipient were correctly aligned for action than when the tool was rotated to face away from the action recipient. Second, presenting a different tool as a distractor between the tool and action recipient target objects removed any benefit seen for congruent pairings. This was likely due to interference from the motor properties of the distractor tool that disrupted the motor synergy between the congruent tool and action recipient targets. Overall, these findings demonstrate that the contextual motoric relationship between tools and their action recipients facilitates their visual encoding and access to perceptual awareness.     

Conflict behaviors and their relationship to popularity

This study examined conflict behaviors (self, other) among 127 Turkish college students. Differences in five conflict behaviors (forcing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, and collaborating) were then explored in relation to popularity and unpopularity. Results indicated that the students engaged in more avoiding and compromising behaviors, while perceiving more forcing behavior in others. Further, the unpopular group was found to engage in more compromising behavior, and perceived more forcing behavior in others, as compared with the popular group. Constructive and destructive conflict strategies, and their implications for popularity, are discussed.     

Accuracy and bias in the perception of the partner in a close relationship

Partners in close relationships can be both accurate and biased in their perceptions of each other. Moreover, sometimes a bias can lead to accuracy. The authors describe a paradigm for the simultaneous measurement of accuracy and bias in 2-person relationships. One prevalent bias in close relationships is assumed similarity: Does the person think that his or her partner sees the world as he or she does? In a study of 238 dating and married heterosexual couples, the authors found evidence for both bias and accuracy: the bias effects were considerably stronger, especially when the measure was linked to the relationship. They found little or no evidence for gender differences in accuracy and bias.     

Action-specific effects in perception and their potential applications

Spatial perception is biased by action. Hills appear steeper and distances appear farther to individuals who would have to exert more effort to traverse the space. Objects appear closer, smaller, and faster when they are easier to obtain. Athletes who are playing better than others see their targets as bigger. These phenomena are collectively known as action-specific effects on perception. In this target article, we review evidence for action-specific effects, including evidence that they reflect genuine differences in perception, and speculate on possible applications of action's influence on vision.     

Adolescents' perception of the ideal mate: its relationship to parental characteristics in intact and nonintact families

The relation of adolescents' experiencing parental divorce, their perception of parents' characteristics, and their perception of the ideal mate's characteristics was investigated. One hundred adolescents from intact families and 79 from nonintact families were asked to rank both the degree to which each of 40 personality traits characterized their parents and the degree to which each characterized an ideal partner. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between adolescents from intact and nonintact families in the independence of their characterizations of their ideal mate and of their parents. However, differences were found on some of the personality dimensions that were investigated. These and other findings are discussed within the framework of psychoanalytic theory.     

Phases in Movement After-Effects and their relationship to the kinetic figural effect

Summary A Movement After-Effect (MAE) observed on a structured test figure contains generally two successive phases. The initial one is non-contingent upon the test figure and is assumed to result from an adaptation process. The second phase is shown to be contingent upon the features of the test figure and their similarity with those of the generating figure. A conditioning process is assumed to share in its appearance. In Experiment I, it is shown that the areal spread of MAE which may appear in the contingent phase is likely to result from a generalization process in which part of the test figure corresponding to an unstimulated area becomes transiently effective in generating a MAE. In Experiment II distributed practice of the MAE is shown to lead to an increase in the duration of the effect when the generating and test figures are similar. This last result suggests that the true conditioning stimulus is the generating figure as such.     

Contrast effects and their relationship to subsequent behavior

The present study attempted to apply social judgment theories to the effects of context on judgments of the importance of a social issue and on subsequent issue-related behavior. Subjects judged the importance of a target issue (recycling) in the context of either important or unimportant social issues and were subsequently asked in a separate setting for help on a local recycling project. Context produced contrast effects on rating scale judgments of the importance of recycling. These judgments, if salient, were then used as a basis for subsequent support of the recycling project. When either the initial judgment was not salient or no prior judgment of recycling was made, the importance of the context had a positive effect on amount of support for recycling, such that more help was given in the important context conditions. Results indicate that contrast effects on the ratings are response base rather than perceptual in nature, but that the rating, if salient, can serve as subsequent behavior and attitudes.     

Adolescents' problems and their relationship to self-esteem.

The Mooney Problem Check List and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale were administered to 201 adolescents, ages 14 to 16 years. Sex differences in the number and nature of problems reported, and their relationship to self-esteem, were examined. Results indicated that, overall, girls reported significantly more problems and lower levels of self-esteem than did boys. Girls had more problems with interpersonal relationships, personal adjustment, health, and family issues. There were no significant differences between girls and boys in the areas of educational and vocational future. Surprisingly, neither boys nor girls were particularly concerned about their vocational/educational future. Relative to other areas, adjustment to schoolwork was identified as being of considerable concern for both sexes. There was a significant relationship between self-esteem and reported problems, and different problem areas were related to self-esteem for girls and boys. The findings of this study support previous research and provide further information concerning relationships between self-esteem and problems.