When Taste Triggers Sociophobia

Abstract

Taste perception, food ingestion behaviors, and social behaviors are intimately linked together in mammals. Philogenetical and ecological considerations can explain why taste modality deserves such a particular treatment, compared to other sensory modalities. These links are pertinent not only for normal physiological situations, but also in pathological ones. We will focus here on the relations between taste perception and actualization of social behaviors. Specifically, we will review the question of whether and how animals can actively adapt their social behavior following the perception of a given taste. Three main categories of taste-triggered social effects will be analyzed: social withdrawal induced by poisoning, socially transmitted food preference (a form of socially acquired knowledge), and the recently demonstrated phenomenon of taste-dependent sociophobia. The mechanisms of the association between a new taste and a delayed diffuse negative emotional state which can underlie taste-dependent social withdrawal will be described. The question of how these biological phenomena are pertinent for the understanding of eating disorders observed in humans, particularly for the ontogeny of these disorders and the phases of maintenance, will be extensively discussed. Finally, topics like estrogen influence and alterations to hedonism in the context of the interaction between taste and social perception will be mentioned.