Effects of light and sound on parotid secretion and taste perception in response to sodium chloride

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Abstract
Salivary secretion in response to solutions of 1.6% NaCl was slightly, but not significantly lower under red than under white illumination, and when wearing earphones which delivered intermittent “kitchen” noise, or the monotonous noise of a siren. Gustatory responses from the same subjects to a 15-sample concentration series of NaCl indicated that neither discrimination nor perceived intensity of saltiness was significantly affected by the illumination or by the kitchen noise. Fitting of a smooth, sigmoid line to the group's discrimination data gave a value of 0.012% NaCl for the 75% correct level (50% above chance) and of 0.08% NaCl for 100% identification. The subjects showed no systematic relationship among salivary flow rate, discrimination, or perceived intensity. Contrary to previous findings, neither the light nor the noise resulted in significantly lowered responses in 10 out of 12 subjects in the salivation tests, nor in 45 out of 52 trials (13 subjects × 4 test conditions) in the taste tests. It appears that experienced subjects adapt well to systematic environmental distractions, which do not adversely affect their performance of simple perceptual tasks.

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