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Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on March 1, 2005
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bji014
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Accepted November 30, 2004

Article

Metallic Taste from Electrical and Chemical Stimulation

Harry T. Lawless 1*, David A. Stevens 2, Kathryn W. Chapman 1, and Anne Kurtz 3

1 Department of Food Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
2 Hiatt School of Psychology, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA
3 Department of Chemistry, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 13323, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Harry T. Lawless, E-mail: htl1{at}cornell.edu


  Abstract

A series of three experiments investigated the nature of metallic taste reports after stimulation with solutions of metal salts and after stimulation with metals and electric currents. To stimulate with electricity, a device was fabricated consisting of a small battery affixed to a plastic handle with the anode side exposed for placement on the tongue or oral tissues. Intensity of taste from metals and batteries was dependent upon the voltage and was more robust in areas dense in fungiform papillae. Metallic taste was reported from stimulation with ferrous sulfate solutions, from metals and from electric stimuli. However, reports of metallic taste were more frequent when the word ‘metallic’ was presented embedded in a list of choices, as opposed to simple free-choice labeling. Intensity decreased for ferrous sulfate when the nose was occluded, consistent with a decrease in retronasal smell, as previously reported. Intensity of taste evoked by copper metal, bimetallic stimuli (zinc/copper) or small batteries (1.5-3 V) was not affected by nasal occlusion. This difference suggests two distinct mechanisms for evocation of metallic taste reports, one dependent upon retronasal smell and a second mediated by oral chemoreceptors.

Keywords: electric taste; electrogustometry; ferrous sulfate; metallic taste.
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