SENSATION AND THE SENSES. Striving for variety and intensity in sensory experiences may be a fundamental human characteristic, likely reflecting our evolutionary history as both foragers of foods and omnivores. The enduring popularity of high-speed activities such as roller coaster rides or extreme sports, as well as films or computer games with impressive visual and sound effects, points to sensation seeking as still being an important aspect of many people's lives. Yet, in terms of the range of sensations they evoke, these experiences might be considered trivial by comparison with those delivered every day by foods and beverages. Particularly in the chemical senses (the collective term for smell, taste, and pungency), food consumption provides a continuous stream of sensory information to be processed and evaluated. Far from being mundane, even eating an apple provides an enormously varied set of sensations that begins...