Lesson Plan: Sensation and Perception (Olfactory and Gustatory)

(75-Minutes)

Course: Introduction to Psychology
Lesson Topic: Sensation and Perception: Smell and Taste
Date: Spring 2025

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Pre-class reading and video assignment:

• https://pressbooks.cuny.edu/jjcpsy101/chapter/5-5-the-other-senses/
• How Do Genes Affect What We Taste? (video 3min 30 sec)

Lesson Learning Objectives (LLO) – By the end of this lesson, students will be able to…

1. LLO 1 – Identify and describe the main components of the olfactory and gustatory systems. (Assessed through class discussions and student participation in the Skittle activity.)

✅ Course Learning Objective (CLO) 1 – Recognize and define core psychological terms

✅ CLO 4 – Translate scientific concepts to a general audience

• LLO 2 – Explain how smell and taste interact to create the perception of flavor.

(Assessed through Kahoot questions)

✅ CLO 1

• LLO 3– Describe the role of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in processing texture and hedonics. (Assessed through Kahoot questions)                                                        

✅ CLO 1

• LLO 4– Discuss how texture and food preferences are influenced by culture.                     (Assessed through think, pair, share) 

✅ CLO 6 – Communicate and work with others from diverse backgrounds

• LLO 5 –  Reflect on personal differences in taste perception, including concepts like picky eaters and supertasters.                                                                                              (Assessed through think, pair, share)                                ✅ CLO 6

5)

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Lesson Timeline and Activities

0:00–0:05

Class Start (5 minutes)

• Asks students to recall the five taste profiles (using Kahoot)
  • Have Kahoot live on screen with the following prompts:

What sense does the olfactory system refer to?

What sense does the gustatory system refer to?

0:05–0:20

Mini-lesson (15-minutes)

• Warm-up with index cards (4 minutes):
  Pass out an index card to each student. Ask them to write:
  1. One thing they learned from the homework reading and/or video.
  2. One question they still have.
• Video and reflection (6 minutes):
  Before playing the video (How Do We Smell?), instruct students to watch for the answer to their question.

• Play video.
• Give students an extra minute or two afterward to write their answer down, if it was answered in the video.
• Remind them to put their name on the card. Collect the cards.
• Interactive discussion (5 minutes):
  Read through several student questions aloud. Invite classmates to help answer them.
  Use this to transition into a short review of:

• The olfactory and gustatory systems
• How sensory signals reach the brain
• How smell and taste combine into flavor
• The orbitofrontal cortex’s (OFC) role in integrating sensory input

0:20–0:45

Activity Overview: Olfactory + Gustatory Systems  (25 minutes)

• Students taste Skittles with and without their sense of smell (and sight) to explore the smell-taste connection. They tally correct guesses and calculate average and per cent of correct guesses and answer assessment and reflective questions.

Activity Materials & Instructions:

Materials

• Skittles
• Little Plastic Cups
• Mini-lesson worksheet instructions are pasted below. The link directly below will also direct you to the worksheet itself.
• Worksheet

**Remind students of the flavor that corresponds to each color skittle.**

Strawberry = Red

Grape = Purple

Orange = Orange

Lime = Green

Lemon = Yellow

Instructions:[MOU1] 

1. Pair up with a classmate. (I encourage you to partner with someone new!)
2. Each student should have a small cup containing 10 Skittles with random varying flavors.
3. Decide who will be Partner A (the taster) and who will be Partner B (the recorder) for the first round.
4. Partner A plugs/squeezes their own nose tightly so they cannot breathe or smell through it and closes their eyes.
5. Partner B pours the first skittle from the cup into partner A’s hand, partner A , with their eyes closed and nose plugged eats the skittle. Note: Only touch the Skittles you’re eating yourself. When giving your partner a Skittle, pour it from the cup into their hand—don’t touch it directly.
6. Partner A guesses the flavor of the skittle while they are chewing or once they are done chewing. Partner B records the actual flavor and their partner’s guess in the appropriate boxes.
7. Repeat until Partner A has guessed/eaten 5 Skittles (nose still plugged, eyes still closed).
8. Partner B totals how many guesses were correct and incorrect.
9. Switch roles with your partner and repeat steps 4–8.
10. Begin Round 2: Repeat the same process again, but this time with noses unplugged (eyes still closed).
11. After both rounds are complete, calculate the number and percentage of correct guesses with and without smell. Compare results and reflect on how smell impacted flavor identification.
12. Then, enter your totals into a shared Google Form. The class data will be collected and used to explore overall trends and accuracy patterns together.

*The results from the data will be emailed to you all within 24-hours*

1. After data collection, students answer reflection questions on their worksheets:
   1. Which flavors were easier/harder to guess?
   1. What taste quality did you notice (sweet, sour, etc.) for each Skittle, if any?
   1. What did you learn about how your senses (especially smell and taste) contribute to your perception of flavor?

Lesson (15-minutes)                                                              0:45–1:00

Discuss cultural influences (i.e. Differences), Orbitofrontal cortex’s role in integrating texture, and examples of acquired preferences.

Mini-discussion: Ask students to share, Are there any foods from your culture that people outside your culture tend to dislike or find unusual? What are those foods, and why do you think others might react that way (3-5 minutes)

Think-Pair-Share: Cultural Foods & Hedonics

(10 minutes)

• 🧠 Think (2 minutes):
  Project the list below onto the screen. Individually, have students choose 1 or 2 foods from the culturally distinct list (see textbox below). Ask them to jot down:
  • Have you ever eaten this food? If yes, what was your reaction?
  • If not—how do you think you’d feel about trying it (smell, taste, texture)?
  • Why do you think people from some cultures love this food?

List of Foods

• Durian (Southeast Asia) – Spiky fruit with a strong odor; creamy texture, sweet/savory taste.
• Natto (Japan) – Fermented soybeans; slimy texture and strong smell.
• Jellied Eels (England) – Cold eels in gelatin; slippery texture, mild flavor.
• Century Egg (China) – Preserved egg with a strong, pungent flavor and jelly-like consistency.
• Hákarl (Iceland) – Fermented shark; strong ammonia smell and chewy texture.
• Escargot (France) – Cooked snails; tender, chewy texture with garlic/butter flavor.
• Balut (Philippines) – Fertilized duck egg with partially developed embryo; rich flavor, soft texture.
• Menudo (Mexico) – Soup made from beef tripe (stomach lining); chewy texture, spicy broth.
• Fufu (West Africa) – Dough-like food made from cassava/yams; soft, sticky texture, mild taste.
• Lutefisk (Norway/Sweden) – Dried whitefish treated with lye; gelatinous texture, fishy taste.

Pair (4–5 minutes):
In pairs, students compare their reactions and discuss:

• Which foods did you both react to most strongly (positive or negative)?
• Do you think your food preferences are shaped more by biology or cultural exposure?
• Have you ever learned to enjoy a food you disliked at first?

Share (5 minutes):
As a class, gather a few takeaways:

• What foods got the strongest reactions?
• What patterns did students notice about cultural exposure and openness?
• Discuss the concept of hedonic learning—how preferences can be shaped over time by culture, experience, and social norms.

1:00–1:08

Class Discussion (8 minutes)

• Discuss biological aspects of taste preferences, picky eaters,  supertasters  and PTC taste strips
• Asks students to reflect on…

• If they know any picky eaters? What makes them a picky eater?(2 min)
• Can biology explain part of that? (2 min)
• How might this affect eating habits and social life? (2 min)

• Introduce biological factors that shape food preferences and how this affects social eating experiences.
• Explain PTC papers, while passing around PTC papers. Use gloves and place one control strip and one ptc strip in the hands of any student who wants to see if they are a taster. This is a forced choice test – if they taste the same they are a taster and if one tastes bitter they are a non-taster.
  • Ask for a show of hands: who could taste the strip (tasters) and who could not.
  • Tally responses on the board and calculate the percentage of tasters vs. non-supertasters in the class.

1:08–1:15

Wrap-Up & Exit Prompt

(7 minutes)

• Recap key takeaways: multisensory perception, culture, biology
• Exit prompt to be answered on Kahoot and submitted  before they leave: “What surprised you most about how we perceive flavor?”

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Materials Needed

Skittles

• Plastic cups to hold skittles
• In-class worksheet (includes activity, taste quality question, reflection)
• Set up a Google form for class data collection
• List of Cultural food descriptions for think pair share activity
• PTC taste test strips (for demonstrating tasters/nontasters – can be bought from Amazon)

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