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Getting “in touch” with oral texture perception: the development, adaptation, and execution of methods for assessing how humans perceive texture within the oral cavity

Miles, Brittany L
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6036-4998
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638315460087308

Abstract Details

2021, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Food Science and Technology.
Food texture, and its perception, are of unquestionable importance to food liking and product choice. However, unlike many other critical attributes, such as taste and flavor, where compounds are detected by a series of identified receptors and pathways, the mechanisms of texture perception in the mouth are relatively unknown. While recent work has identified potential receptors involved in oral texture perception, connections between this anatomical information and perceptual ability is lacking. To address this gap, this dissertation aimed to develop a series of methods to assess tactile acuity within the oral cavity and relate this acuity to differences in oral anatomy. We began by assessing the efficacy and usability of previously-created sets of stimuli – used to assess acuity in epidermis – for use on the tongue (Chapter 3). Findings indicated that while the tongue was significantly better (p<0.02) than the finger at perceiving differences in “purely-tactile” stimuli, it was significantly worse (p=0.018) at the more cognitively-loaded, letter-recognition task. To determine if the fingertip’s superiority at letter recognition was due to differences in tissue sensitivity or to differences in cognitive ability, “purely-tactile” stimuli were developed to assess a similar percept, and testing was repeated (Chapter 4). When assessing acuity using the updated tiles, the tongue was found to be significantly better than the finger (p<0.001) at discriminating between tiles suggesting that while the tongue is highly sensitive to tactile cues, it is ill-suited for shape-identification tasks. The suite stimuli were then used to assess the relative acuity of three different oral tissues, the tongue, the hard palate, and the gums (Chapter 5). The tongue was significantly more sensitive than the gums (p<0.01) or the palate (p<0.02) for all tested percepts, and the palate was more sensitive than the gums for the percept of surface roughness (p=0.013). Findings highlighted the challenges of acuity assessment on non-lingual oral tissues, including those of access and tissue flexibility. The final two studies aimed to connect differences in tactile acuity to differences in oral anatomy aiming to validate proposed models of high-viscosity solution perception on the tongue (Chapter 6&7). These models hypothesized that perception was tied to the deformation of the filiform papillae, but this had not been demonstrated psychophysically. Using physical tissue isolation, participants evaluated high-viscosity (η=4798-12260cP) solutions using only their tongue and their entire oral cavity (Chapter 6). Psychophysical data from the tongue-only condition were then correlated to average filiform papillae traits. While participants were significantly better at discriminating between solutions (p<0.001) using the whole oral cavity than using tongue alone, there were significant, negative correlations between filiform papillary attributes and lingual viscosity discrimination acuity (p<0.0001). Individuals with longer and more numerous filiform papillae were more sensitive than individuals with fewer, shorter papillae. While findings of the study identified a potential perceptual mechanism on the tongue, the decrease in discrimination ability when comparing the tongue to the entire oral cavity suggested that other tissues might also be involved in viscosity perception. Thus, in the final study we aimed to characterize the palate’s role in high-viscosity solution perception (Chapter 7). Similar to the prior study, sensitivity to difference in high-viscosity solutions were assessed for whole-mouth, and palate-only conditions, and data from the palate-only condition was correlated to differences in palatal and rugal anatomy. The palate showed similar acuity to the tongue (p=0.724) and was significantly worse than evaluations done with the entire oral cavity (p<0.001). Moreover, acuity was significantly related to rugal hardness (r=0.513, p=0.004) and the proportion of the palate covered by rugae (r=-0.781, p<0.0001). These findings suggest that the palate, is equally as relevant as the tongue for high-viscosity solution perception, and the rugae specifically are likely the perceptual structures involved. Taken together, findings from these studies suggest that the mouth is a highly mechanosensitive space apt for texture discrimination, but ill-suited for shape and form recognition. Using techniques developed in the first three chapters of this work, we provide the first psychophysical evidence of the filiform papillae’s relevance in high-viscosity solution perception and propose a novel, relevant structure for viscosity perception on the palate, the rugae. This work paves the way for investigations into how these differences in sensitivity anatomy may ultimately underscore differences in product liking and food choice creating a more targeted approach for future texture manipulation.
Christopher Simons (Advisor)
Farnaz Maleky (Committee Member)
Monica Giusti (Committee Member)
Susan Travers (Committee Member)
225 p.
Food Science
texture perception; psychophysiology; filiform papillae; palatal rugae; mechanosensation; tactile acuity

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Miles, B. L. (2021). Getting “in touch” with oral texture perception: the development, adaptation, and execution of methods for assessing how humans perceive texture within the oral cavity [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638315460087308

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Miles, Brittany. Getting “in touch” with oral texture perception: the development, adaptation, and execution of methods for assessing how humans perceive texture within the oral cavity. 2021. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638315460087308.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Miles, Brittany. "Getting “in touch” with oral texture perception: the development, adaptation, and execution of methods for assessing how humans perceive texture within the oral cavity." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1638315460087308

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1638315460087308
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.