It seems the scientists’ predictions were right – introverts did indeed produce more saliva in our experiment, so why is this? Well, it’s all to do with a part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS for short)...
Your RAS reacts to stimuli like food and drink, and to stimuli like feelings or situations where you meet new people (the word ‘stimuli’ is the plural for stimulus, and this is something that causes your body to respond). Your RAS controls the amount of saliva you produce when you respond to food, and in the experiment, the lemon makes your mouth water because your RAS is responding to the lemon juice.
Scientists say that an introvert’s RAS is more active than an extrovert’s RAS so because an introvert’s RAS is more active, he or she will generally produce more saliva. An extrovert’s RAS, on the other hand, has such a low level of activity that he or she will produce less saliva.
In some experiments, introverts have produced up to 50% more saliva than extroverts, but we must also remember that there are lots of other things that affect how much saliva people produce. Saliva production can depend on what time of day it is and what food a person has eaten or how thirsty they are.
Of course, the experiment also proved what a great bunch you Wired-Up subscribers are for rising to the challenge and joining in with the experiment! Give yourselves a pat on the back!
