A Sour Taste in Your Mouth Means You're More Likely to Take Risks

(Credit: In The Light Photography/Shutterstock) Tired of playing it safe? Go suck a lemon! No, really. A new paper published in Scientific Reports says tasting something sour is linked to more risk-taking behavior in people. Researchers from the University of Sussex in England recruited 168 volunteers from both the United Kingdom and Vietnam. The team gave them a taste of just one of various solutions that fell into the five main taste groups of humans: bitter, salty, sour, sweet and the savory umami. The tasters then took part in a computerized test that measures risk-taking: They got paid to blow up a digital balloon. The more air in the balloon, the more money they could get; they could cash out whenever they wanted. But if the balloon popped? Bye bye, potential winnings. When the team crunched the data, they found the people who’d tasted sour citric acid were much more ...