Terry Acree
Cornell University

Flavor Chemistry and Perception

The science of flavor is studied from two main perspectives:  chemistry and psychology.  Food producers and chefs wish to know how the chemistry they manipulate stimulate flavor while perceptual scientists use psychology to understand the nature of the response.  In recent years neurobiologists and geneticists have made discoveries that are helping flavor scientists understand the physiological mechanisms involved in chemosensory systems.  Soon we hope to explain how anatomy, physiology, and psychology convert chemical information into flavor perception.  This seminar will review the present state of flavor science with emphasis on the chemistry of perception as we have studied it using olfactometry.