Learned liking and discrimination of perceptually distinct bitter stimuli

Open Access
- Author:
- Higgins, Molly
- Graduate Program:
- Food Science
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 05, 2020
- Committee Members:
- John Hayes, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
John Hayes, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Helene Hopfer, Committee Member
Joshua D Lambert, Committee Member
Kathleen Loralee Keller, Outside Member
Robert F Roberts, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- bitter taste
psychophysics
personality measures
associative learning
food preference
individual differences - Abstract:
- Phytonutrients are an essential component to the diet, as their consumption can reduce the risk of adverse health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer (Drewnowski & Gomez-Carneros, 2000). Taste is the number one driver of consumption of various food products according to consumer research (International Food Information Council, 2019), and, specifically, bitter taste is the major deterrent of consumption for foods high in phytonutrients. Bitterness is generally avoided as the taste is innately aversive (Steiner, Glaser, Hawilo, & Berridge, 2001). However, a tolerance or liking of bitter tasting products can develop overtime, as evidenced by the popularity of bitter beverages like black coffee, green tea, and bitter, pale ale style beer. A number of factors have been shown to correlate with the consumption of bitter foods; yet, these relationships are not fully understood and cannot explain why the liking of one bitter food does not generalize to other bitter foods. Bitterness is a complex taste, and research in humans and rodents suggests bitterness may be multigeusic (i.e., composed of multiple distinguishable percepts) rather than monogeusic (i.e., one singular, indistinguishable percept). Here, we seek to better understand bitter taste perception and how individuals learn to tolerate or like bitterness. In stage one, we identify potential bitter percepts of multiple bitter stimuli. In stage two, we test if individuals can learn to discriminate these stimuli using various conditioning and discrimination tasks. Finally, in stage 3, we explore additional factors influencing the liking and intake of bitter products.