Neuron, Vol. 44, 379–387, October 14, 2004, Copyright 2004 by Cell Press
Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks neural responses, and the modulation of both by nonodor or nonflavor stimuli—that is, the sensory problem.
Ultimately, such sensory discriminations and the vari-
Samuel M. McClure,1,2 Jian Li,1 Damon Tomlin,
Kim S. Cypert, Latane´ M. Montague, and P. Read Montague*
Department of Neuroscience ables that influence them serve to influence expressed
Menninger Department of Psychiatry behavioral preferences. Hence, there is another large and Behavioral Sciences piece of the problem to understand. For modern huBaylor
College of Medicine mans, behavioral preferences for food and beverages
1 Baylor Plaza are potentially modulated by an enormous number of
Houston, Texas 77030 sensory variables, hedonic states, expectations, semantic priming, and social context. This assertion can be illustrated with a quote from Anderson and Sobel (2003)
Summary profiling the work of Small et al. (2003) on taste intensity and pleasantness processing:
Coca-Cola
(Coke
) and Pepsi
are nearly identical in chemical composition, yet humans routinely display “A salad of perfectly grilled woodsy-flavored calastrong subjective preferences for one or the other. mari paired with subtly bitter pale green leaves of curly endive and succulent petals of tomato flesh in
This simple observation raises the important question a deep, rich balsamic dressing. Delicate slices of of how cultural messages combine with content to pan-roasted duck breast saturated with an assertive, shape our perceptions; even to the point of modifying tart-sweet tamarind-infused marinade.” behavioral preferences for a primary reward like a sugared drink. We delivered Coke and Pepsi to human The text goes on further, but note that the sheer lushsubjects
in