The capacity and organization of gustatory working memory

Remembering a particular taste is crucial in food intake and associative learning. We investigated whether taste can be dynamically encoded, maintained, and retrieved on short time scales consistent with working memory (WM). We use novel single and multi-item taste recognition tasks to show that a single taste can be reliably recognized despite repeated oro-sensory interference suggesting active and resilient maintenance (Experiment 1, N = 21). When multiple tastes were presented (Experiment 2, N = 20), the resolution with which these were maintained depended on their serial position, and recognition was reliable for up to three tastes suggesting a limited capacity of gustatory WM. Lastly, stimulus similarity impaired recognition with increasing set size, which seemed to mask the awareness of capacity limitations. Together, the results advocate a hybrid model of gustatory WM with a limited number of slots where items are stored with varying precision.

Automated summary

This study investigates the encoding, maintenance, and retrieval of taste in working memory (WM), and finds that a single taste can be reliably recognized despite interference, while the maintenance of multiple tastes depends on their serial position. Recognition remains reliable for up to three tastes. Similar stimuli impair recognition in gustatory WM with increasing set size, masking the awareness of capacity limitations.