THE BITTER WITH THE SWEET - THE TASTE STRESS/TEMPERAMENT NEXUS/

Is the tongue a window to the psyche? In rats, stress alters taste, an d individual differences in taste are related to measures of emotion. The present study concerned stress-induced changes in taste and its mo dulation by temperament in people. College students rated saccharin's bitterness and sweetness and a tone's loudness after exposure to a mil d stressor. Temperament (trait arousability, pleasure, and dominance) was assessed separately. When individual differences were ignored, str ess appeared to selectively increase sensitivity to saccharin's bitter ness. However, the stressor's impact was modulated by temperament: Str ess nonselectively augmented stimulus magnitude ratings among highly a rousable individuals; relative to high-pleasure counterparts, low-plea sure individuals gave higher bitterness ratings and lower sweetness ra tings after stress. Taste does seem to provide a glimpse of the emotio nal life of humans and other animals and opens new avenues to the stud y of the biological bases of affect. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.