INTERACTION OF SALIVARY FLOW WITH TEMPORAL PERCEPTION OF SWEETNESS, SOURNESS, AND FRUITINESS

To explore the effect of salivary flow on perception of sweetness, sou rness and fruitiness, 19 subjects continuously recorded perceived inte nsity from ingestion, through expectoration to extinction of the sensa tion, for each attribute in solutions sweetened with three levels of a spartame or sucrose at three levels of citric acid. Unilateral parotid flow was collected in response to the solutions at the medium acid le vel and used to assign subjects to low, medium and high-flow groups. F or all three attributes, although the low-flow subjects reached maximu m intensity later than high-flow, no significant difference in any tim e-intensity parameter for any attribute was found among salivary flow groups. No difference in salivary how was elicited by equi-sweet solut ions of aspartame or sucrose. Maximum intensity of sourness and saliva ry flow rate decreased as the level of sweeteners was raised (at a con stant acid concentration) suggesting that salivary flow is mediated by cognitively processed taste response and not only the concentration o f stimuli.