The 15 Minute Fix
  • The Books
    • VISION: Eye Exercises
    • FACE: Facial Exercises
    • SENSES: Sensory Exercises
    • SCALP: Hair and Scalp Exercises
    • The FOCUS Series
  • Blog
  • Downloads




                                                                                                         The 15 Minute Fix - Musings on how to promote a youthful mind, body, and soul.

Taste Is an "Image" Created By Multiple Inputs

10/10/2014

0 Comments

 
Earlier this year, Popular Science had a nice little article on things that affect your sense of taste. The author (Amber Williams) highlighted 7 things that influence taste (besides smell and the actual taste of whatever you are eating or drinking):
  • Language
  • Utensils
  • Temperature
  • Color
  • Environment
  • Expectations
  • Memory

The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES has an exercise called “Taste Comprehension.” I have included it below:
Ignite the connection between taste buds and brain. Preparation Pick three different things to taste. They should vary in taste, texture, and temperature and be clean and safe. The Exercise Put the first item in your mouth and spend 30 seconds thinking about its taste and texture. You already know what it is, so you are not trying to guess what it is, rather you are trying to heighten your awareness of different kinds of tastes. Repeat with the other two items, rinsing your mouth out between each. Examples of things to taste include: lemon, ice, soda water, pepper, salt, sugar, and even plastic, metal, wood, or paper (use eating utensils to make sure it’s safe to put in your mouth).
It struck me, after reading Ms. Williams article, that some of the external influences she describes could be woven into this exercise to broaden the range of our olfactory perception by getting more of the brain contributing to the perception and interpretation of particular tastes (and smells for that matter). For example, try tweaking the exercise so that you are tasting one food using three different types of utensils or at three different temperatures. Try drinking liquids out of different color cups or even use food coloring in relatively clear liquids. Use the same three tastes in subsequent sessions, but in different environments (city/country, indoor/outdoor, dry/damp, light/dark, etc.). Invoke different memories while tasting the same thing over multiple sessions - any difference in taste? Have a partner give creative names to things before you taste them.

There are no rules for this kind of experimentation. Play around with these external factors (throw smell in as well), trying to discern whether or not these seven things influence your perception of how something tastes. Some may work for you, some may not, but you’ll be pushing your brain to take in more information from multiple sources as part of the process of “tasting.” I would only suggest that if you want to maximize the benefit you get from taking this exercise to the next level, you get in the habit of carefully recording your perceptions of each and every thing you taste - both in an absolute sense and on a comparative basis.

Remember, our senses are part of a complicated web of input, information processing, and analysis systems. Developing a fully functioning sense of taste is not simply a matter of exercising your taste buds. The best way to get your sense of taste to thrive is to exercise the entire system that contributes to your understanding of taste. Although the sensory process is scientifically complex, you don’t need to be too concerned with it, because all you need to do is experiment and have fun tasting things.

Age well my friends….
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    YOUR HOST

    John wants to get the most out of life and wants to help you do that too!


    eye exercises, improve vision, see better, exercise my eyes, exercise eyes, vision exercises, see more clearly,
    sensory exercises, improve my senses, better senses, improve my sense of, smell, taste, touch, hearing
    face exercises, smoother face, facial exercises, get rid of my double chin, shrink jowls, bags under eyes, stress lines, laugh lines
    exercises for hair loss, scalp exercises, hair exercises, hair loss exercises, exercises to stop baldness, exercises to stop hair loss, exercises to stop losing hair
    See my Author Page at Amazon!

    Categories

    All
    Eye Exercises
    Facial Exercises
    Hair & Scalp Exercise
    Sensory Exercises
    Series


    Archives

    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014


    Follow John on Quora
The 15 Minute Fix offers exercise programs to combat  aging, reduce stress, improve cognitive function, and promote a youthful mind, body, and soul. The series follows the tradition of innovators such as Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Body and Tony Horton's P90X series.
 Copyright © 2014-2015. All rights reserved.