What if a certain professional group was a little smarter than others? The thought is dizzying. Here is the study that supports that thesis. [read the full champagne story]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
There are many who have wondered and the road to get there has been long.
When the research has had its say, however, it can finally be determined which professional group is a little sharper than others. There are many who have wondered and the road to get there has been long. When the research has had its say, however, it can finally be determined which professional group is a little sharper than others.
There are many who have wondered and the road to get there has been long. When the research has had its say, however, it can finally be determined which professional group is a little sharper than others.
At least if we are to rely on the research. If nothing else, we can try to explain how it reasoned in this specific case.
Subtle and structural differences
To begin with, the goal of the study was to investigate whether the brain’s response to wine tasting differs between sommeliers and those who are not experts.
At the same time, they wanted to find out if sommeliers are generally more advanced. Both when it comes to discerning subtle differences between different wines, and translating them into verbal descriptions.
At least if we are to rely on the research. If nothing else, we can try to explain how it reasoned in this specific case.
Four different wines
Therefore, 28 healthy adult volunteers, consisting of trained sommeliers and regular wine consumers, participated in the study.
All of these test subjects tested four different wines, while their brains were connected to an MRI machine. They were then asked to rate the complexity of each wine.
An ability that was then compared to the MRI scan, writes The Drinks Business.
It then emerged that sommeliers and regular wine drinkers tend to activate different parts of the brain when tasting wine.
More difficult for the hobby drinker
More specifically, the study showed that the hobby drinker exerted more effort than the sommelier, who was quicker to activate the part of the brain that uses language and taste.
Connections that, according to researcher Manuel Carreiras, who led the study, do not happen by chance.
“Our results suggest that experience and experience in wine tasting likely modulate both the taste and language circuits to produce superior taste recognition abilities, as demonstrated by sommeliers in blind tasting”.
researcher Manuel Carreiras
A conclusion that thus shows that sommeliers possess abilities that the rest of us don’t really do. Whether it de facto makes sommeliers smarter we can perhaps leave unsaid.
On the other hand, we can agree that the brain is a complex device.
