Optokinetic rotation-induced taste aversions correlate with over-all symptoms of motion sickness in humans

Abstract

51 subjects were divided into Familiar- and Unfamiliar-drink groups based on whether they had tasted soybean milk before the experiment. Each subject then viewed an optokinetic rotating drum for 10 min. Subjective assessments of nausea and over-all symptoms of motion sickness were measured during the drum rotation. Two hours later subjects drank the soybean milk again. The consumed volume and rating of likeableness of the drink were subsequently measured. Analysis showed that the subjects in the Unfamiliar-drink group reported significantly higher taste aversion and consumed significantly less soybean milk after rotation than those in the Familiar-drink group. Correlation for the Unfamiliar-drink group indicated that the rated taste aversion was positively correlated with ratings of over-all symptoms of motion sickness and that the consumed volume of soybean milk was negatively correlated with ratings of over-all symptoms of motion sickness. We concluded that the magnitude of acquired conditioned taste aversion was dependent upon the severity of over-all symptoms of visually induced motion sickness when subjects were unfamiliar with the flavor of the target drink.