Introduction

Higher psychopathic traits have been consistently associated with poorer olfactory abilities; however, only one study as reported by Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (Appetite 96:299-308, 2016) has explored whether psychopathy is linked to taste perception. Using self-report measures, Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (2016) found higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli. The aim of the current study was to determine whether direct assessment of taste perception was linked with psychopathic traits.

Methods

Seventy-eight participants (41 females) rated four tastants (i.e. bitter, sweet, salty and sour), at four concentrations. For each of the 16 stimuli, participants rated how much they liked, how disgusting and how intense they perceived each tastant.

Results

Contrary to previous findings, higher psychopathic traits were not associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli, but instead associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli. Moreover, higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher taste intensity ratings, suggesting psychopathy may be associated with increased taste sensitivity.

Conclusions

Higher degrees of psychopathic traits are associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli.

Implications

The findings suggest that the chemical senses may be another confirmatory method for differentiating those with low and high psychopathic traits.

中文翻译：

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探索精神病与味觉之间的关系

介绍

较高的精神病特征一直与较差的嗅觉能力相关。然而，只有 Sagioglou 和 Greitemeyer 报道的一项研究（Appetite 96:299-308, 2016）探讨了精神病是否与味觉有关。 Sagioglou 和 Greitemeyer (2016) 使用自我报告措施发现，较高的精神病特征与对苦味刺激的较高喜好度相关。当前研究的目的是确定味觉的直接评估是否与精神病特征有关。

方法

78 名参与者（41 名女性）对四种浓度的四种促味剂（即苦、甜、咸和酸）进行了评分。对于 16 种刺激中的每一种，参与者都会评价他们对每种刺激物的喜爱程度、恶心程度和强烈程度。

结果

与之前的研究结果相反，较高的精神病特征与对苦味刺激的较高的喜欢度无关，而是与对苦味刺激的较高的厌恶度相关。此外，较高的精神病特征与较高的味觉强度评级相关，这表明精神病可能与味觉敏感性增加有关。

结论

较高程度的精神病特征与较高的苦味刺激厌恶程度相关。

影响

研究结果表明，化学感官可能是区分具有低和高精神病特征的人的另一种验证方法。