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Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on May 16, 2007
Chemical Senses 2007 32(6):611-621; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjm029
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Facial Electromyography: Responses of Children to Odor and Taste Stimuli

Jessica E. Armstrong1,2, Ian Hutchinson1, David G. Laing1,2 and Anthony L. Jinks1,3

1 Centre for Plant and Food Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South, New South Wales 1797, Australia 2 School of Women and Children's Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Level 3, Sydney Children's Hospital, High Street, Randwick, New South Wales 2031, Australia 3 School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South, New South Wales 1797, Australia

Correspondence to be sent to: David G. Laing, School of Women and Children's Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales, Level 3, Sydney Children's Hospital, High Street, Randwick, New South Wales 2031, Australia. e-mail: d.laing{at}unsw.edu.au


  Abstract

The study investigated the potential for facial electromyography (EMG) to be used as a clinical tool for measuring the responses of children to pleasant and unpleasant smell and taste stimuli. Responses in the zygomaticus major and levator labii muscles to 4 odorants and 4 tastants were recorded from 34 children aged 6–9 years. The results indicated that EMG activities in the 2 muscles discriminated between pleasant and unpleasant stimuli within each modality in a manner that indicated that the children perceived the hedonic qualities of the stimuli in a manner similar to that reported for adults. Importantly, there was unanimous agreement across the children as regards the differential nature of the activities exhibited. These outcomes together with the results of earlier facial expression studies suggest that facial EMG may provide an objective procedure that could be suitable for the clinical assessment of taste and smell function in newborns and young infants.

Key words: children, facial electromyography, gustation, hedonic stimuli, humans, olfaction

Accepted 3 April 2007


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