A neurogastronomic aspect of food-based gustatory cues in vocabulary recall
International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, cilt.45, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 45
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.ijgfs.2026.101622
- Dergi Adı: International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Cognition, Gustatory perception, Multisensory learning, Neurogastronomy, Vocabulary recall
- Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
Neurogastronomic research examines taste as an embodied and affective sensory element and how food stimuli interact with attention, memory encoding, and vocabulary recall in language learning. This exploratory study examines whether different gustatory conditions are associated with differences in delayed vocabulary recall among Erasmus students learning Turkish vocabulary. A within-subject quasi-experimental design was used in which 40 vocabulary items were selected and paired across four gustatory conditions (sweet, sour, bitter, umami). Twenty-five Erasmus students learning Turkish at a public university in Türkiye completed the Sensory Processing Sensitivity Questionnaire and a delayed cued recall task. Recall scores varied across gustatory conditions, with higher mean scores in the sweet ( M = 7.84) and umami ( M = 7.36) conditions than in the bitter condition ( M = 5.68), while the sour condition showed moderate recall scores. Additionally, participants submitted reflective diaries. Qualitative results revealed that students connected taste and vocabulary through emotional and metaphorical associations. However, because the study involved a small sample from a single instructional context, lacked a no-taste control group, and used a fixed order of gustatory conditions, the findings should be interpreted as exploratory rather than causal. These preliminary findings suggest that vocabulary recall may vary across gustatory conditions, but further controlled research is needed before conclusions can be drawn about the added value of taste cues in vocabulary learning.