New study Taste of wine develops in the brain and not in the mouth

Tasting wine is a complicated process in the human brain
Surely many people like to drink a wine from time to time. But how do we actually determine the taste of wine? Researchers have now discovered that the taste perception of wine takes place not only in the mouth, but primarily in our brains.

The scientists from the Yale School of Medicine found that the perception of the taste of wine occurs in our brains. The results of the investigation were summarized by the author. Gordon Shepherd in his book "Neuroenologie: How the brain creates the taste of wine" together.

Many people like to drink wine. Researchers are now exploring how the taste of wine actually occurs in our bodies. Amazingly, the taste is produced in the human brain. (Image: Syda Productions / fotolia.com)

Drinking wine claims the brain hard
Drinking wine is the ideal workout for your brain. Before drinking, to smell and analyze the wine requires exquisite control over one of the largest muscles in the human body. Shepherd. When the liquid is then put into the mouth, the complex muscles of the tongue are combined with thousands of taste and smell receptors. The whole process claims the brain more than listening to music or solving a difficult problem in mathematics, the author adds.

Wine drinkers use their own frame of reference for flavor processing
Dr. Shepherd spent years studying how the human brain processes taste. He found that the taste is much more subjective than previously thought. Every drinker uses his own frame of reference to process the taste. This one is highly dependent on our own memories and emotions, explains the author.

What causes the smell of wine?
For the taste perception of the wine two things are particularly important: The movement of the wine by the mouth and the movement of the air by the nose and the neck. The most important contribution from our sense of smell comes not from the sniffing of the wine, but from the molecules that are released when exhaling in our mouths, the study author is quoted by the English-language journal "The Independent".

The brain creates the taste of the wine
The molecules in wine have no taste, but when they stimulate our brain, the brain creates taste the same way it creates color, Dr. Shepherd. The brain creates color by responding to the effects produced when the light strikes the objects we see that are inherently colorless. The taste is not in the wine, the taste is created by the brain of the wine drinker, explains the expert.

Swallowing is important for tasting wine
It is typical to spit the wine in a bucket during a wine tasting. However, swallowing is an important part of the tasting process. Sheperd. But after a few small sips, the brain is already saturated with information. This makes the processing of the taste more difficult.

Unwanted consequences when consuming too much wine
Apart from the complicated processing of the taste in the human brain, the consumption of too much wine can have significant unpleasant effects, ranging at worst to alcohol poisoning. (As)