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EXPERIMENT NO. 3

Absolute threshold for detection of sweetness

Purpose:

To find out absolute threshold for detection of sweetness

Introduction:

Taste:

Taste is a form of direct chemoreception and is one of the traditional five senses.

It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and

poisons (Feldman, 2000).

Sense of Taste:

Sense of taste is the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and the

throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus. The

sense of taste enables us to evaluate what we eat and drink. At the most basic level, this

evaluation is to promote ingestion of nutritious substances and prevent consumption of

potential poisions or toxins.

History:

In Western culture, the concept of basic tastes can be traced back at least to

Aristotle, who cited sweet and bitter with succulent, salt, pungent, harsh, puckery and

sour as elaborations of those two basics. The ancient Chinese Five Elements philosophy

lists slightly different five basic tastes: bitter, salty, sour, sweet and spicy. Ayurveda, the

ancient Indian healing science refers astringent as the sixth taste. Japanese culture also

adds its own sixth taste to the basic five.

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Physiology of Sense of Taste:

At the front of the taste sensory system are the taste buds. These are receptor cells

bundled in clusters. Taste buds are composed of 50 to 150 taste receptor cells. A network

of dendrites of sensory nerves intervowen among the tate cells in a taste bud is called

taste nerves. When taste cells are stimulated by binding of chemicals to their receptors,

they depolarize and this depolarization is transmitted to the taste nerve fibres resulting in

an action potential that is ultimately transmitted into the brain. Parietal lobe receives and

processes information about temperature, taste, touch and movement coming from the

rest of the rest of the body. Gustatory complex is the part of sensory cortex that is

responsible for taste. There are some cranial nerves that innervates the tongue and used

for taste.

Tastents:

Tastants are substances that can stimulate the sense of taste. Taste is the ability to

respond to dissolved molecules and ions called tastants.

Aftertaste:

Aftertaste is the persistence of a sensation of flavor. Both food and drink may

have an aftertaste.

Taste Buds:

Humans detect taste with taste receptor cells. These are clustered in taste buds.

Each taste bud has a pore that opens out to the surface of the tongue enabling molecules

and ions taken into the mouth to reach the receptor cells inside. Taste buds probably play

the most important part in helping to enjoy the many flavors of food.
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Taste buds are mostly located on the tongue. The tongue is covered with

projections called papillae. Taste buds are found on the sides of papillae. Taste buds

contain three major types of cells; supporting cells, gustatory cells and basal cells.]

Theories of Taste:

Duplexity Theory of Taste:

This theory proposes that two different taste stimuli are presented one to the left

and the other to the right side of the tongue they may add together to a sensation in the

middle of the tongue or they may stand separate. This phenomenon can be used to show

that the four primary taste sensations seem to form two well differentiated groups (warm

and cold).

Basic tastes:

There are five basic types of tastes:

• Sweet

• SaltyBitter

• Sour

• Bitter

• Umami

Sweet:

Sweetness, usually regarded as a pleasurable sensation, is produced by the

presence of sugars, some proteins and a few other substances. Sweetness is often

connected to aldehydes and ketones, which contain a carbonyl group. Sweetness is

detected by a variety of G protein coupled receptors coupled to the G protein

gustducin found on the taste buds.

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Salty:

Saltiness is a taste produced primarily by the presence of sodium ions. Other ions

of the alkali metals group also taste salty, however the further from sodium the less salty

is the sensation. The size of lithium and potassium ions most closely resemble those of

sodium and thus the saltiness is most similar.

Sour:

Sourness is the taste that detects acidity. The sourness of substances is rated

relative to dilute hydrochloric acid, which has a sourness index of 1. By comparison,

tartaric acid has a sourness index of 0.7, citric acid an index of 0.46, and carbonic acid an

index of 0.06. The mechanism for detecting sour taste is similar to that which detects salt

taste. Hydrogen ion channels detect the concentration of hydronium ions that are formed

from acids and water.The most common food group that contains naturally sour foods is

the fruit, with examples such as the lemon, grape, orange, and sometimes the melon.

Wine also usually has a sour tinge to its flavor. If not kept correctly, milk can spoil and

contain a sour taste.

Bitterness:

Bitterness is the most sensitive of the tastes, and is perceived by many to be

unpleasant, sharp, or disagreeable. Common bitter foods and beverages include coffee,

unsweetened cocoa.

Umami:

Umami is the name for the taste sensation produced by compounds such as

glutamate. The compounds that generate savoriness are commonly found in fermented

and aged foods. Humans have taste receptors specifically for the detection of the amino
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acids, e.g., glutamic acid. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and are found

in meats, cheese, fish, and other protein-heavy foods.

Absolute Threshold:

Absolute threshold is the smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for a

stimulus to be detected (Goldstein,)

Taste threshold

The minimum concentration at which taste sensitivity to a particular substance or

food can be perceived.

Hypothesis:

H1: People who take more sugar have high absolute threshold for sweetness and

people who take less sugar have low absolute threshold for sweetness.

Method:

Apparatus: Paper, Pencil, Disposable cups, Sugar and Water.

Subject: There are twelve subjects. Their age ranges from 20 to 24. All subjects are

students of BS (Hons.).

Procedure: The subjects were asked to sit on the chairs. They were given instructions

about the procedure of the experiment. They seated comfortably but were a little bit

curious about the experiment. A different amount of sugar was added in cups. There were

twenty five cups. In five cups plain water was added. In rest of the cups ten grains,
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quarter tea spoon, half tea spoon and one tea spoon of sugar was added respectively. The

subject was asked to taste water from one cup and to tell whether it was sweet or not. The

same procedure was repeated twenty five times. At the end she was asked how much

sugar she takes.

Result: The result of each subject is given below. The result shows that subjects who

take more sugar have high absolute threshold for sweetness while the subjects who take

less sugar have low absolute threshold for sweetness.

Table 1

Trials Plain Water 10 grains 1/4 tsp ½ tsp 1tsp

1 No No No Yes yes
2 No No Yes Yes yes
3 No No Yes Yes yes
4 No No No No yes
5 No No No No yes

Sugar taken by subject: 2 tea spoon Absolute Threshold: 1 tea spoon

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Table 2

Trials Plain Water 10 grains 1/4 tsp ½ tsp 1tsp

1 No No Yes Yes yes
2 No No No Yes yes
3 No No Yes Yes yes
4 No No Yes Yes yes
5 No No No Yes yes

Sugar taken by subject: 1 tea spoon Absolute Threshold: 1/2 tea spoon

Table 3

Subjects Absolute Threshold Absolute threshold

(upto1tsp) (more than 1tsp)

1 1/2 tsp 1tsp
2 1/2 tsp 1tsp
3 1/2 tsp 1/2 tsp
4 1/4 tsp 1 tsp
5 1/4 tsp 1/2 tsp
6 1/2 tsp 1tsp

Absolute Threshold for people who take less sugar (upto 1): 1/2 tsp

Absolute Threshold for people who take more sugar (more than 1): 1 tsp
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Discussion:

The practical shows that the subjects who take more sugar have high absolute

threshold for sugar as compare to people who take less sugar.

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References

Retrieved on December 5, 2009 from

http://www.mondofacto.com/facts/dictionary?taste+threshold

Retrieved on December 5, 2009 from

http://psychology.about.com/od/glossaryfromatoz/g/absolutethresh.htm

Retrieved on December 6, 2009 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetness

Retrieved on December 6, 2009 from

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/Taste.html

Retrieved on December 7, 2009 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste#Savoriness.

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