THE EFFECT OF AUGMENTED SENSORY FEEDBACK ON THE CONTROL OF SALIVATION

This study assessed the effect of enabling a subject to hear himself salivate while trying to increase or decrease his salivary rate. Two groups of ten subjects were instructed to try to increase their salivary rate when a light to the left was lighted and decrease when a light to the right was lighted. Acetic acid was administered periodically to the right lateral margin of the tongue, and saliva was collected by a parotid capsule and measured by a liquid displacement sialometer. Ten subjects in the feedback group (F) received a 0.2 sec, 1000-cps tone for each drop collected during a trial. Subjects in the no feedback group (NF) received no indication of their salivary rate. Three out of 10 F subjects were able to produce a significantly different (p <. 05) number of drops between increase and decrease periods, and the group as a whole achieved a significant difference between increase and decrease periods. No NF subject, nor the NF group as a whole produced a significant difference.