Psychophysical and psychohedonic sweetness functions have a similar shape across familiar and unfamiliar foods in Dutch consumers
Authors: Cad, E.M., Tang, C.S., Mars, M., Appleton, K.M. and De Graaf, K.
Conference: 44th Annual Meeting of the Association-for-Chemoreception-Sciences
Dates: 20-23 April 2022
Journal: CHEMICAL SENSES
Volume: 47
eISSN: 1464-3553
ISSN: 0379-864X
Abstract:People typically like sweet foods, but dislike unfamiliar foods. However, it is unclear whether or not psychophysical (concentration-intensity) and psychohedonic (concentration-pleasantness) sweetness functions have a similar shape across familiar and unfamiliar foods. The main objective of this analysis was to investigate the effect of familiarity on the psychophysical and psychohedonic sweetness functions in equivalent liquid, semisolid and solid foods. Twenty eight participants (11 M, 17 F; mean age 23.4 ± 4.2 y) evaluated the familiarity, perceived sweetness intensity (both 100-unit VAS) and preference (Ranking on a Scale) of 3 familiar and 3 unfamiliar sweet foods, each varying in 5 levels of sweetness. Unfamiliar foods, created by the addition of unfamiliar flavourings and colourings, were perceived as being less familiar than familiar ones (Mfamiliar=77.5; Munfamiliar=46.4, F(1,139)=66.5, p<0.001). Perceived sweetness intensity increased linearly across sweetness concentration levels for all foods (concentration, F(4,803)=387.6, p<0.001), with unfamiliar foods on average being perceived as sweeter than familiar ones across all sweetness levels (familiarity, F(1,803)=17.1, p<0.001). Preferences were generally higher for familiar foods (familiarity, F(1,803)=38.1, p<0.001) and differed across sweetness levels (concentration, F(4,803)=24.9, p <0.001). However, there were no effects of familiarity on the shape of the psychophysical sweetness (concentration x familiarity, F(4,803)=0.9, p=.85) nor on the psychohedonic sweetness function (concentration x familiarity, F(4,803)=0.7, p=.55). These results indicate that familiarity, manipulated by flavour and colour, affects sweetness intensity and liking, but not the shape of psychophysical and psychohedonic sweetness functions.
Source: Manual
Preferred by: Katherine Appleton
