

Perhaps when you're tasting it, you imagine yourself there." Interestingly, the mere act of eating the cue was seen as a bodily re-enactment of the original event: "It just kind of triggers a few more sensations. I ate that, and that actually provoked out of all the memories, quite a strong reaction actually. I could place myself at the table in the room. Participants said: ""The roast beef and horseradish cue took me back 25 years in one bound. And then when we went out, put stuff on the tables, the rest of the group coming out and we sit on long tables outside, the front of the school, so it's outside in the open air to eat."Ī striking outcome was the large number of memories cued by flavours that were recalled with strong feelings of being brought back in time. And then we would help cook them, stir fry them, and then we would help dish them up…"īut after being exposed to the 3D printed flavour-based cue of the Green Thai curry, the participant gave a more detailed memory of "the chopping noises of cutting up the vegetables, me sitting on the floor cross legged with my friend, chatting together. Remembering a Green Thai curry dinner in Cambodia, one participant remembered: We went into the kitchen area, which was very basic and preparing all sorts of types of green vegetables, which I have no idea what they were, sitting on the floor.
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Professor Sas said: "Our outcomes indicated that personalized 3D printed flavour-based cues have rich sensorial and emotional qualities supporting strong recollective retrieval, especially when they distinctively match the food in the original experience and prompt emotionally positive self-defining memories."Īll the participants were able to provide rich sensory accounts when prompted by flavour- based cues, with most of the details not being present in the earlier free recall. The 3D printed flavour-based cues are small, gel-like, edible balls, modelling the original food, which are easier to swallow with more intense flavours, without requiring all the ingredients and preparation. This ranged from barbecued mackerel at a golden wedding to eating strawberries in hospital after giving birth.įor food memory, the researchers worked with the participants to create bespoke flavour-based cues for each one. Working with 12 older adults, they collected 72 memories, half involving food and half not involving food, each recalled twice. Their work explored the feasibility of 3D printed flavour-based cues for the recall of memories in old age. The research entitled "It took me back 25 years in one bound": self-generated flavour-based cues for self-defining memories in later life" published in Human Computer Interaction is by Professor Corina Sas of Lancaster University, Dr Tom Gayler, formerly of Lancaster University and Vaiva Kalnikaité of Dovetailed Ltd.
