| Abstract: | A filter-paper method was applied to self- and cross-adaptationin taste. The original method was modified in order to overcomethree problems: (i) unreliable replacement of the test stimulusafter removal of the adapting stimulus, (ii) incomplete removalof the adapting stimulus liquid, and (iii) migration of stimulusliquid to unadapted surrounding tissue. With NaCl, sucrose anddi-quinine sulfate >70% of complete self-adaptation was retainedafter substituting the adapting stimulus with an identical testpaper. Citric acid behaved differently. Only 45% of the completeadaptation survived the change from adapting to test stimulus.It is speculated that this exception of citric acid is due tospecific physico-chemical properties of acids combined withthe use of the filter-paper method. The experiments show thatthe filter-paper method provides a useful and reliable procedurefor the investigation of cross-adaptation in taste. |
