口腔内外への温度提示による食感・味覚の認知変化に関する研究

Vision
口腔内への温度提示と食品の温度が食体験と味覚に与える影響 / Effects of Temperature Presentation to the Oral Cavity and Food on Eating Experience and Taste Perception
ThermoTumbler
Video
Achievement

Vision

　食体験を情報技術や認知科学の知見によって拡張・支援する種々の取り組みでは，食事に対して視覚や聴覚によって食体験を拡張する試みが主流ですが，舌以外の口腔内や唇といった口周辺への温度と食品の温度を個別に制御し，これらの味覚や食体験への影響についてはこれまで検討されていませんでした．

　本プロジェクトでは，温度を自在に制御できる様々な食器型デバイスを開発し，実験を行うことで，味覚や食体験に対する影響の解明を目指しています．得られた知見をもとに，動的に食器の温度を変化させることで，味覚の変化や食体験の向上，あるいは今までにない新たな食体験の創出を目指しています．

Recently, the cross-modal technology that emphasizes sensory perception by combining multiple senses, such as visual and auditory stimuli, has gained attention and has been used in various research fields.
However, they have yet to be conducted on individually controlling the temperature of areas around the mouth, such as the lips and the temperature of the food or drink.
For example, during chewing, the lower lip comes into contact with cutlery and tableware, suggesting that the temperature sensation of the lower lip is also important for food experience. Therefore, we focused on drinking spout temperature on food experience.

In this project, we aim to develop various tableware-type devices capable of controlling temperature flexibly and conduct experiments to elucidate their effects on taste and food experiences. Based on the insights gained, our goal is to dynamically alter the temperature of tableware to enhance taste perception, improve food experiences, and create novel food experiences that were previously unexplored.

口腔内への温度提示と食品の温度が食体験と味覚に与える影響 / Effects of Temperature Presentation to the Oral Cavity and Food on Eating Experience and Taste Perception

　口腔内への温度提示と食品の温度による食体験の向上や味覚の変化を調査することを目的とし，実験を実施しました．実験は，3状態の温度（加温・冷却・常温）の食品を口にする際に，食品の温度とは異なる温度のスプーンを使用することで，これらの温度の違いによる食体験や味覚の変化を評価しました．

　温度を変化させたスプーンの上に食品を乗せると，食品自体の温度が変わってしまいます．そこで実験では，お湯や冷水を用いて温度を変化させ，下唇と舌（口腔内）に温度を提示するスプーンの上に，断熱効果のある別のスプーンを重ね，その上に食品を乗せました．この手法を用いることで，スプーンの底部と食品で別々の温度を提示できます．この温度の違いによる食体験や味覚の変化を調査しました．

　実験の結果，スプーンと食品の温度によって，「のど越し」「おいしさ」「心地よさ」が変化し，口腔内への温度提示によって「甘味」の感じ方が変化することが明らかになりました^1,4．

We focused on the temperature difference between the oral cavity and the food to improve the food experience and change the taste perception. In this paper, we investigated the changes in food experience and taste perception caused by the different temperatures of the spoon and food.

The result of the study revealed that the “throat feeling” was improved, and the “deliciousness” and “comfort” increased when participants tasted the food with a spoon of the same temperature as that preferred for each food. In addition, we found that the combination of spoon and food temperature extended the food experience, and the perception of “sweetness” varied depending on the temperature of the spoon^1,4.

ThermoTumbler

特に飲料の摂取において，飲料を変化させることなく，下唇周辺への温度提示によって，「口中香」「後味」「味の濃さ」「のど越し」「おいしさ」「心地よさ」といった食体験や味覚に影響を与える方法として，ThermoTumblerを提案しました．

ThermoTumblerでは，下唇周辺への温度提示を実現するために，ペルチェ素子やヒートパイプ等を利用して飲み口の温度制御を実現しました．

ThermoTumblerを用いて，下唇周辺への温度提示による食体験や味覚の変化を調査しました．評価実験の結果，提示温度に応じて実験参加者の感じる飲料の「温度」「のど越し」「おいしさ」「心地よさ」が変化することが明らかになりました^3,5,6．

We proposed ThermoTumbler that realizes affects the user’s food experience, including “in-mouth aroma,” “aftertaste,” “intensity of taste,” “throat feeling,” “deliciousness,” “comfortable,” “sweetness,” “saltiness,” “sourness,” “bitterness,” and “umami,” by presenting temperature around the lower lip without altering the beverage.

ThermoTumbler consists of Peltier devices and heat pipes to control the temperature of the drinking spout within the range of 0℃ to 65℃ to present the temperature of the user’s lower lip.

We investigated the changes in food experience resulting from temperature to the lower lip using the ThermoTumbler.
The evaluation experiment’s results showed that participants’ perceptions of the beverage’s “temperature,” “throat feeling,” “deliciousness,” and “comfortable” varied according to the temperature cues presented at the drinking spout. In addition, it was shown that temperature stimulation on the lower lip can accentuate a beverage’s five basic tastes^3,5,6.

Video

Achievement

◆論文 / Papers

上堀まい, 伊藤弘大, 藤田和之, 伊藤雄一, 口腔内への温度提示と食品の温度が食体験と味覚に与える影響, 日本感性工学会論文誌，Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 113-120, 2023.
Mai Kamihori, Ayumu Ogura, Kodai Ito, Yuichi Itoh: “DAWBalloon: An Intuitive Musical Interface Using Floating Balloons,” UIST ’22 Adjunct: Adjunct Proceedings of the 35th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, No. 105, pp. 1-2, October 2022.
上堀まい，伊藤弘大，伊藤雄一, “ThermoTumbler: 下唇周辺への温度提示による飲料の食体験と味覚変化の実現,” 情報処理学会インタラクション2023予稿集, pp. 21-30, Mar. 2023.
上堀まい，伊藤弘大，藤田和之，伊藤雄一，口腔内への温度提示と食品の温度による食体験と味覚の調査，第18回日本感性工学会春季大会査読セッション予稿集，pp. 89-175, Mar, 2023.
上堀まい, 伊藤弘大, 伊藤雄一: 下唇周辺への温度提示による苦み飲料に対する食味認知変化, 情報処理学会研究報告, Vol.2023-EC-69, No. 16, pp. 1-6, 2023.
Mai Kamihori, Kodai Ito, and Yuichi Itoh. ThermoTumbler: A Tumbler-type Device that Changes Flavor Perception by Controlling Temperature to the Lower Lip. In Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (scheduled to be published)

◆メディア記事 / Media Coverage