Does Drinking Wine Seriously Engage Your Brain More Than A Math Problem?

There ’s a story making the rounds at the mo that wine tasting engage your brain more than figure out a maths trouble .

The theme was raised byNPRin an interview with Yale neuroscientist Gordon Shepherd , who has a Quran out   calledNeuroenology : How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine .

In the book , he talks about the role the brain play when we drink wine . He knows what he ’s talking about too , being a prof of neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine and the former editor in chief of the Journal of Neuroscience .

“ What do listening to music , shoot a baseball game and solving a complex math job have in common ? ” asked NPR . “ They all activate   less   gray topic than pledge wine-coloured . ”

While Shepherd’sresearchdoes point to wine-colored tasting employ our brain , he told IFLScience that comparing it to solve a maths job was n’t entirely accurate , but it did provide an overview of the science .

“ [ The article ] hyperbolize the distributor point out of circumstance , ” he said . “ You have to interpret the volume to infer the context of use , where you ’ll find that Neuroenology is a first time blanket review of all the brain and body systems involved in the entire chronological succession of wine-colored tasting . ”

This let in first seeing the nursing bottle and the many muscleman that are then involved in manipulating wine in the sass . Shepherd notice there was a “ enormous range of sensory , motor and fundamental brain system involved in a wine tasting . ”

Toshal Patel , a neuroscientist and independent consultant at Tagus Scientific Consulting , recite IFLScience that there was some basis to the claim . “ alike to the eyes that take information that reach the retina and manufacture an opthalmic image in the optical cortex , the nose and natural language have sensory receptors that project to the brain and a perception of taste and smell is construct there , ” he said .

“ In my view , the evidence indicate that Professor Shepherd ’s observations may be true that uptake of vino is activate neuronic bodily function in more region of the brain . But this may also be the effect of the fact multiple centripetal organization , olfactory or visual or tasting , are being engaged , unlike a maths problem . ”

So , it ’s certainly interesting enquiry – but the conclusion of stand out to comparing it to a maths problem , which Shepherd stressed to IFLScience was not by him , is perhaps a bit of a stretch .