Introduction

Higher psychopathic traits have been consistently associated with poorer olfactory abilities; however, only one study as reported by Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (Appetite 96:299-308, 2016) has explored whether psychopathy is linked to taste perception. Using self-report measures, Sagioglou and Greitemeyer (2016) found higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli. The aim of the current study was to determine whether direct assessment of taste perception was linked with psychopathic traits.

Methods

Seventy-eight participants (41 females) rated four tastants (i.e. bitter, sweet, salty and sour), at four concentrations. For each of the 16 stimuli, participants rated how much they liked, how disgusting and how intense they perceived each tastant.

Results

Contrary to previous findings, higher psychopathic traits were not associated with higher liking ratings for bitter stimuli, but instead associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli. Moreover, higher psychopathic traits were associated with higher taste intensity ratings, suggesting psychopathy may be associated with increased taste sensitivity.

Conclusions

Higher degrees of psychopathic traits are associated with higher disgust ratings of bitter stimuli.

Implications

The findings suggest that the chemical senses may be another confirmatory method for differentiating those with low and high psychopathic traits.

中文翻译：

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探索精神病与味觉知觉之间的关系

介绍

较高的精神病性一直与较差的嗅觉能力有关。然而，只有Sagioglou和Greitemeyer（Appetite 96：299-308，2016）报道的一项研究探讨了精神病是否与味觉相关。Sagioglou和Greitemeyer（2016）使用自我报告的方法发现，较高的精神病性状与较高的苦味喜欢度相关。本研究的目的是确定对味觉的直接评估是否与精神病性状有关。

方法

78名参与者（41名女性）以四种浓度对四种口味（即苦，甜，咸和酸）进行了评分。对于这16种刺激中的每一种，参与者都对自己喜欢的程度，令人厌恶的程度以及对每种口味的感知程度进行了评估。

结果

与先前的发现相反，较高的精神病性状与较高的对苦味刺激的喜好等级无关，而与较高的苦味刺激性的厌恶等级有关。此外，较高的精神病性状与较高的味觉强度等级有关，表明精神病可能与较高的味觉敏感性有关。

结论

更高程度的精神病性状与苦味刺激的更高厌恶等级相关。

含义

研究结果表明，化学感官可能是区分具有低度和高度精神病性状的另一种确认方法。