Sensory Measurements of Taste: Aiming to Visualize Sensory Differences in Taste Perception by Consumers—An Experiential fNIRS Approach

An advance in novel intelligent sensory technologies: From an implicit‐tracking perspective of food perception

“…Based on these current findings, it can be suggested that the brain region responsible for central gustatory processing, governed by the frontal operculum, is involved in the perceived enhancement of saltiness (Onuma et al, 2018). In another study by Laves et al (2022), fNIRS and hedonic rating tests were used to examine the taste perception of two plant-based milk alternatives. Surprisingly, the data collected from the prefrontal cortex did not show significant differences, despite participants reporting different overall liking on the hedonistic scale.…”

“…fNIRS is indeed an invaluable method for studying human cortical function in more realistic and ecologically valid environments, but the limited spatial resolution and shallow penetration of fNIRS restrict its ability to capture deep brain information and precisely localize brain activity to specific regions (Chen et al., 2020). The existing literature consistently reports that fNIRS primarily measures cortical activity, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, and may not accurately reflect the activity of deeper brain regions (Laves et al., 2022; Minematsu et al., 2018). While there are options available, such as FD fNIRS and TD fNIRS, to improve depth sensitivity, these devices can be expensive and have limited availability (Lange & Tachtsidis, 2019).…”

“…In another study by Laves et al. (2022), fNIRS and hedonic rating tests were used to examine the taste perception of two plant‐based milk alternatives. Surprisingly, the data collected from the prefrontal cortex did not show significant differences, despite participants reporting different overall liking on the hedonistic scale.…”