Studies on the integration of cross-modal information with taste perception has been mostly limited to uni-modal level. The cross-modal sensory interaction and the neural network of information processing and its control were not fully explored and the mechanisms remain poorly understood. This mini review investigated the impact of uni-modal and multi-modal information on the taste perception, from the perspective of cognitive status, such as emotion, expectation and attention, and discussed the hypothesis that the cognitive status is the key step for visual sense to exert influence on taste. This work may help researchers better understand the mechanism of cross-modal information processing and further develop neutrally-based artificial intelligent (AI) system.
Keywords: cognitive status; cross-modal information integration; taste perception.