Ask A Scientist General Science Archive

name        Brandon
status       student
age          14

Question -   How does color/sight affect or influence taste?
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Brandon,
Color/sight can influence our perception of taste. The main reason for this 
is because of our past experiences with color/flavor. For example, we 
remember that when bread goes bad, it will often have a green fungus growing 
on it. What if you dyed the bread that same color in spots? Because of your 
past experience with bad bread, you would see the dyed bread as "bad", even 
though it is only dye, therefore it probably would taste different to you. 
For another example, what if you dyed an apple or banana dark brown? 
Sometimes one of our senses can overwhelm some of our other senses. If you 
notice that the food item doesn't look right to you, your sense of sight 
will be working hard, while your sense of taste might be partly ignored, 
causing you to perceive the favor as different, even though it isn't any 
different. Some studys have shown that darker colors make a person think 
that the food or drink is stronger. For instance, do you think white grape 
fruit juice or dark grape fruit juice has a stronger flavor?  This is a 
topic that is currently still be studied because we are just beginning to 
understand how the different senses affect each other.

G. Fields
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