Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Physiological and psychophysical studies have provided evidence that the sensory information must be integrated with past experience through the process of perception. This study was performed to investigate whether mnemonic information acquired about dentistry effects the process of oral sensory perception. METHODS: When we mechanically stimulated one of the lower teeth of students belonging to the school of Dental Hygiene at Kyushu Dental College, they answered which tooth had been stimulated. All lower teeth except for the third molar were randomly stimulated. Some subjects have also participated in the same experiment in the past years. The students in upper and lower grade at school were defined as the subjects who have large and small information acquired about dentistry, respectively. RESULTS: In most of the subjects, the ratio of correct answers for the anterior teeth was significantly higher than that for the posterior teeth. The ratio of correct answers and the variance of incorrect answers significantly correlated to the respondent,s year in school. On the other hand, there was no correlation between the ratio of correct answers and the results of term examinations at school that must be involved in the semantic memory about dentistry. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that mnemonic information acquired about dentistry, but not semantic memory, seems to be involved in the process of oral sensory perception. [J Physiol Sci. 2007;57 Suppl:S102]
