Human Chemosensation and Wine Expertise The Biology of Wine Tasting

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Bauer, Gordon

Keywords

Chemosensation, Wine Expertise, Taste, Smell

Area of Concentration

Biological Psychology

Abstract

Wine experts are regarded to have a finer capacity to discriminate and describe the fragrance and flavor of wine. To address the basis of this expertise, I examine human olfaction and gustation as the modalities crucial to experts� sensory evaluations of wine. This thesis explores the peripheral olfactory and gustatory systems, the anatomy of the central olfactory and gustatory system, functional processing of chemosensory stimulus information, and the representation of flavor perceptions in the brain. My thesis examines the development of perceptual skill, conceptual knowledge, and descriptive language through formal training and extensive experience within the domain of wine. I hypothesize that wine expertise develops as a product of perceptual learning by facilitating the development of finer discrimination and enhanced chemosensory recognition. In turn, an improved discrimination and recognition skill provides the foundations for constructing a sophisticated knowledge of wines that is tied to a precise lexicon of wine descriptive terms.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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