Taste and Smell Perception in Aging1

The taste and smell experience of other human beings cannot be known directly. Thus our understanding of age-related changes in the perception of taste and smell is derived inferentially. Inferences based on verbal reports and on the performance of tasks involving taste and smell stimuli suggest that some older individuals are impaired. The perceptual disadvantage of older adults appears to be more marked or more easily measured for complex than for simple stimuli. Some difference between older and younger adults may not be primarily sensory; others may arise from differences only incidentally associated with aging. The study of taste and smell perception in aging continues to challenge the psychophysical investigator to define the nature and extent of age-related change and to demonstrate its underlying mechanisms.