A project, between 7 Universities and 2 Research Institutes, develops a scientific protocol to study the correlations between molecules and feelings.
Not only for the scores of the guides or the pairings with food, wine should also be chosen for the emotions it arouses us: a factor that apparently is not only subjective, but scientifically demonstrable. The International Academy of Sensory Analysis has brought together a team composed of experts from seven universities (Pisa, Brescia, Cattolica, Pavia, Udine, Turin and Tuscia) and two Research Institutes (Cnr-National Research Council and Centro Studi Assaggiatori) who have developed a test protocol and have begun to perform tests on wines from different regions. The study is aimed at understanding which emotions are transmitted by each and if it is possible to make correlations between these, the sensory characters and the molecules present. What emerged in particular is that positive emotions have a direct correlation above all with spherical perception, structure, floral, fruity and spicy, albeit to different degrees.
In the first conclusions it is also highlighted that the hedonic value attributed to a given wine determines in fact the positivity or negativity of the emotion expressed. The analysts point out, in defining the first conclusions on the subject of study, that "a certain confirmation comes from the analysis of volatile compounds that highlights how joy / happiness are mainly associated with terpene molecules (floral / balsamic) and ethyl esters (fruity) while anger and sadness to analytes that are perceived as defects".
The first research has also shown that the emotional response is detectable both through the sensory test, and through the encephalogram, cardiogram and skin transmittance, but not only: the researchers underline that there is a clear link between familiarity and pleasantness with respect to a given stimulus and this last dimension has been studied through the implicit evaluation of the activity of the autonomic nervous system.
Sourse: www.winenews.it
