Dynamic contrast: a sensory contribution to palatability.

By focusing on a sensory model for palatability, the "ice-cream effect", we speculate on some principles underlying palatability. We propose that the most highly palatable foods are likely to have higher levels of "dynamic contrast" (moment-to-moment sensory contrast from the everchanging properties of foods manipulated in the mouth). The sensory feature contributing most to dynamic contrast seems to be somatosensation. Texture, for example, over the course of masticating a crunchy food, changes markedly such that each alteration contributes differently and dynamically to sensory contrast. Our purpose herein is to propose that dynamic contrast contributes significantly to palatability of foods and beverages.