Taste-smell interactions are tastant and odorant dependent

Four experiments were conducted to assess the nature of taste–smellinteractions. In the first experiment, the ability of strawberryodor to modify the sweetness of sucrose was investigated. Thiswas accomplished by having subjects rate the sweetness of whipped-creamstimuli with and without strawberry odor over time. The stimuliwere swallowed to augment retronasal stimulation of the olfactorysystem. It was found that strawberry odor tended to enhancethe maximal sweetness and total rating time of the stimuli.In the second experiment, it was found that peanut butter odordid not enhance sweetness, thus demonstrating that an odor'sability to enhance sweetness is odor-dependent, In the thirdexperiment, it was demonstrated that strawberry odor did notenhance the saltiness of sodium chloride indicating that anodor's ability to enhance taste is tastant-dependent. In thefourth experiment, it was shown that 85% of the strawberry odorant'sability to enhance sweetness was eliminated by pinching thenostrils. This suggests that the influence of the strawberryodorant on sweetness was olfactory rather than gustatory. Itwas concluded that an odor's influence on taste is both odorantand tastant dependent.