Sensory-specific satiety

Sensory specific satiety is a phenomenon that refers to the declining satisfaction generated by the consumption of a certain type of food, and the consequent renewal in appetite resulting from the exposure to a new flavour or food. The energy density and nutrient composition of foods has little effect on sensory-specific satiety.

The sensory hedonic phenomenon was first described in 1956 by the French physiologist Jacques Le Magnen. The term "sensory specific satiety" was coined in 1981 by Barbara J. Rolls and Edmund T. Rolls. The concept illustrates the role of physical stimuli in generating appetite and, more specifically, explains the significance of taste, or food flavour in relation to hunger. Besides conditioned satiety and alimentary alliesthesia, it is one of the three major phenomena of satiation. An Ingestive Classics paper on the topic has been written in conversation with Barbara J. Rolls.