Sensory interactions in mixtures of tastants

Abstract

This dissertation focuses upon the interrelationships between physical and psychological variables involved in the human perception of mixtures of dissimilar tasting substances. Mixture interactions are complex, asymmetrical, and they can have a central or peripheral origin, depending on the nature of the mixture components. Two regularities only seem to hold for all pairs of dissimilar tasting substances in taste mixture research. First, dissimilar tasting components generally suppress each other's taste intensity. Second, the total taste intensity of a binary mixture is well predicted by the sum of the two specific taste intensities within the mixture percept.In addition to mixture interactions, differences in research methodology are addressed, which appear to affect the outcomes of taste interaction research