ABSTRACT
During the consumption of a food product, the human gustatory system is stimulated by a large number of different chemicals. Perceiving such a chemically complex stimulus requires a reception mechanism, a transduction mechanism, and an integration mechanism. After specific chemicals have bound to receptor sites, the receptor cells activate the afferent neural system. The perceptual system then integrates the signals released by the taste receptor cells. During the perceptual process many substances, or the signals they elicit, interact. The sensation elicited by an unmixed component, therefore, usually differs from the sensation elicited by that same component as part of a complex stimulus. The present chapter focuses on the ways in which mixture components interact and the methods by which these taste interactions can be determined.
