Introduction

Humans are very sensitive to several bitter compounds, although there is great inter-individual variability in the elicited emotional (e.g., disgust) and somatic (e.g., nausea) responses. The variability might be associated with the personality trait “disgust proneness” (DP; general tendency to respond with the emotion of disgust).

Method

This study examined the relationship between the sensitivity to quinine hydrochloride and DP in children (63 boys and 67 girls; mean age = 8.5 years) and adults (107 men, 95 women; mean age = 29.4 years). Each participant rated the perceived taste intensity of four gustatory stimuli (sucrose, 0.4 g/ml; sodium chloride, 0.25 g/ml; quinine hydrochloride, 0.006 g/ml; citric acid, 0.3 g/ml) and completed questionnaires that assessed the proneness to experience disgust, anxiety, and depressed mood.

Results

The computed multiple linear regression analyses for the adults showed that DP but no other trait measure was associated with bitter sensitivity. In children, depression proneness and age were predictors of bitter sensitivity.

Conclusions

This study revealed age-dependent correlations between DP and bitter sensitivity.

Implications

This finding points to the dynamic features of taste sensitivity (and possibly DP) across the lifespan. Therefore, longitudinal studies are warranted.

中文翻译：

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盐酸奎宁敏感性与儿童和成人厌恶倾向的关系

介绍

人类对几种苦味化合物非常敏感，尽管引起的情绪（例如恶心）和躯体（例如恶心）反应之间存在很大的个体差异。变异性可​​能与人格特质“厌恶倾向”（DP；对厌恶情绪做出反应的一般倾向）有关。

方法

这项研究检查了儿童（63名男孩和67名女孩；平均年龄= 8.5岁）和成人（107名男性，95名妇女；平均年龄= 29.4岁）对盐酸奎宁和DP的敏感性之间的关系。每位参与者对四种味觉刺激的感知味觉强度（蔗糖，0.4 g / ml；氯化钠，0.25 g / ml；盐酸奎宁，0.006 g / ml；柠檬酸，0.3 g / ml）进行评分，并完成问卷以评估易感性体验到厌恶，焦虑和沮丧的情绪。

结果

对成年人进行的计算多元线性回归分析表明，DP但没有其他性状指标与苦味敏感性相关。在儿童中，抑郁倾向和年龄是苦味敏感性的预测指标。

结论

这项研究揭示了DP和苦味敏感性之间的年龄相关性。

含义

这一发现表明了整个寿命过程中味觉敏感性（可能还有DP）的动态特征。因此，有必要进行纵向研究。