Why is the sound of crispy food, such as chicken skin, roasted pork belly, chips, etc., appealing and mouthwatering?

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Why is the sound of crispy food, such as chicken skin, roasted pork belly, chips, etc., appealing and mouthwatering?

In: Biology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Ever hear of Pavlov’s dog?

A scientist noticed the dogs in his experiments on digestion were salivating when the attendants arrived whether or not they had food. He considered that it may have been a conditioned response, and ‘trained’ them to salivate on the sound of a metronome.

Essentially the brain connotes any neutral stimulus – white labcoat, metronome, sound of sizzling – with food if it’s commonly accompanied by food. The sizzling is your brain telling you “This is a situation where you can get food!” and kickstarting the physiological process of digestion – salivation, or suddenly increased appetite.

Anonymous 0 Comments

This is likely a fact of mere association. In the same way then sound of opening a drink can triggers craving or thirst.

In one if the most groundbreaking biology experiments of all time, Ivan Pavlov would ring a bell whenever he served food to experimental dogs. After repeating this for a few weeks he observed that merely ringing the same bell would cause the dogs to salivate and act agitated/excited regardless of any other context. The dogs had been conditioned to associate the ringing bell with the function of eating.

This lead to the discovery of the Parasympathetic Nervous system.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Cos you know how these foods taste like and therefore your brain expects tasty food when you hear the sounds they make.