Taste and Neuroplasticity
When taste reaches the brain, it is categorized as excitation or inhibition, with stronger tastes eliciting stronger responses. Thinking about food triggers dopamine release, enhancing pleasure. Chewing stimulates the hippocampus and frontal lobe, crucial for memory and motor planning. The right brain activates through sensory input, producing alpha waves that promote calm and happiness. Overusing the left brain for rational thinking can lead to imbalance, while engaging the right brain through savoring food boosts intuition. Taste, tied to survival instincts, activates extensive brain areas, enhancing brain function. Mealtimes provide focus, stimulating the nervous system and optimizing brain performance.
New taste experiences create new neural connections in the brain, which are stored as memories. The pursuit of new flavors by food enthusiasts stems from their desire to broaden their sensory perception through new experiences. As this process is repeated, the brain’s functionality expands, leading to a broader perspective. This capability is particularly important for athletes and artists. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to learning and experience. This involves the formation of new neural connections, the strengthening or weakening of existing ones, and the reorganization of brain areas. It is closely linked to new taste experiences. Even as brain function declines with age, enhancing focus on new flavors promotes the formation of new neural circuits. If part of the brain is damaged, surrounding areas can take over its functions, and continuous exposure to new tastes helps expand the neural network.
The brain instinctively pursues survival, so it stores every thought, emotion, and experience. When a problem arises, it uses survival skills to attempt new approaches. Discovering new flavors is a way to experience new emotions, which in turn generates new mental states. Every time we recognize a new taste, even the fleeting momentary ones, it represents new neural circuit activity in the brain. However, these new experiences are often too brief to have a lasting impact. To deepen and extend these experiences, we must focus on the duration and intensity of our perception. Kim Young-Jun, former director of the Genome Research Institute, stated that “environmental influences acquired in life can alter the operation of DNA and genes.” The more we focus on taste, the more active our nervous system becomes. Enjoying flavors expands the brain’s neural map, inducing neuroplasticity. As we heighten our perception of taste, our ability to recognize a wider variety of flavors also improves.
Jo, GiHyoung. Taste Evaluation Theory Revised Edition: Enter gastronomy through the perception of taste (p. 309). ISBN: 978-89-961547-6-1(15380). Kindle Edition.
