大学生における五基本味およびそれら溶液に対する共感覚的イメージの比較

In our daily lives, we utilize the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste), either independently or in combination, to perceive various stimuli. Particularly in the context of food, these senses are engaged to experience taste, which is often described using synesthetic expressions, such as a "smooth taste". The decline in individuals' ability to discern umami, in particular, has been noted as a consequence of changes in dietary habits. It is also possible that there exists a discrepancy between the perceived image of a taste and the actual sensory experience of it. This study compared the differences in synesthetic expressions of the five basic tastes among university students, based on their verbal descriptions of the tastes and their mental images after tasting solutions representing each of the five basic tastes. Among the 167 university students surveyed, there were many commonalities in their synesthetic descriptions of the five basic tastes, as well as in their associations with colors for each taste. In a discriminative sensory evaluation panel of 32 students, sweet and sour tastes were identified more frequently, likely because the synesthetic descriptions aligned closely with the mental images formed after intake. In contrast, salty and umami tastes were identified less frequently. It was suggested that the discrepancy between the concept of umami as a word and its actual taste experience may contribute to the difficulty in recognizing umami, though adjustments in the concentration of the taste solution may also be necessary.