You taste with your mouth and smell with your nose or do you? Could it be that it s all in the mind? Indeed, neuroscience tells us that in reality the brain is the organ of sensory analysis: it receives chemical messages from nose and mouth about tastes and aromas, and combines them with your past experiences and knowledge to create a unique personal experience.
How is it that the wonderful sensory world of tastes and smells arises from the activity of nerve cell in your brain? Might it be possible to train one's sensory abilities to distinguish tastes and smells with greater sensitivity, clarity and pleasure, as a recent brain scanning study conducted by the Santa Lucia Foundation (Rome) suggests? Questions like these are especially important to anyone interested in learning about wine. The ability to compare a fine wine with your memories of previous wine experiences, and the abilitiy to discern subtle differences in tastes and aromas are at the core of wine appreciation.
No scientific background is required to enjoy this exciting symposium on wine and mind, which is of interest to scientists and the lay public alike; most important is an interest in and love of wine.
Leading world scientists will present their findings in comprehensible language, supplemented with a guided wine tasting.
E.G. Jones is a world authority in neuroscience. L. Bartoshuk is a leading researcher on genetic variation in taste perception and taste disorders. A. Noble is an internationally reknowned expert in the areas of sensory and chemical analysis of wine flavor. E. Rolls is a leading researcher in memory and emotion in relation to olfaction and taste. J. K. Mai edited the most comprehensive atlas of the human brain available. J. Price and T. Pritchard are experts in anatomy and physiology of chemical senses.
This symposium will surely provide any wine lover with mental stimulation and food for thought!