Comparison of electromyographic pattern of sensory experts and untrained subjects during chewing of Mahon cheese

Abstract

Use of electromyography (EMG) to monitor mastication is a relatively new concept in assessing food physical and sensory properties. Although expert assessment of cheese characteristics is widely used, the effect of training in sensory analysis on mastication patterns, as assessed using EMG is not well known. Nine samples of the same Mahon cheese (60 days ripening) were given to 24 subjects (8 experts, 16 untrained) and EMG recorded for each chewing sequence. Three samples were tested in a single session by each subject, and three sessions carried out on different days. EMG was recorded from four masticatory muscles for each subject. From EMG records the following was extracted: number of chews, chewing time, mean and maximum voltage of EMG bursts (i.e. chews) across chewing sequence, chewing work and chewing rate. No gender bias was found for the EMG parameters considered, therefore, as regards gender, each group was considered to be homogeneous. Variability within-subjects across samples was greater for experts than untrained subjects. Significant differences in chewing time, chewing work and chewing rate were found between the expert and untrained groups. Data analysis of the three sessions showed an influence of cognitive constructs, mediating states, on the chewing process. The experts were found to be goal driven as to their mastication process. Experts showed no significant differences between sessions, untrained subjects were found to vary their EMG output in successive sessions for number of chews, chewing time, mean voltage, and chewing work.

Relating consumer and trained panels’ discriminative sensitivities using vanilla flavored ice cream as a medium

“…It is worth noticing that such an increase in performance through practice is possible as long as there is potential for the perceptual variance to decrease through factors such as attention, concentration and familiarity with the testing procedure. Studies involving texture have shown for instance that trained panelists have more constant chewing patterns than untrained subjects across samples and sessions (Gonzàlez, Sifre, Benedito, & Noguès, 2002;Mioche & Martin, 1998). However, if the main source of variability comes from the stimulus itself, e.g.…”

Sequential analysis of masseter activity patterns during chewing in healthy males

“…The types were independent of the agar samples (Table 2). Several previous studies have analysed conventional physiological parameters, such as chewing time and number of chewing cycles [1][2][3][4][5][6], and documented some differences in chewing performance among individuals. For example, in one of the studies [3], the authors classified their subjects into five sub-groups based mainly on chewing time and the muscle work rate during chewing.…”

“…Because few previous studies have used specific parameters, such as T 50 or D 50 values, to study the activity patterns of the masticatory muscles, the present study is likely to be the first report of the classification of subjects defined by specific parameters. In future experiments, both males and females should participate as subjects because there have been positive [6] and negative [4] findings concerning sex differences in chewing behaviour.…”

“…Previous studies in humans have revealed some differences in the physiological parameters observed during chewing, such as chewing time, number of cycles, muscle activity and others, among different foods [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Several studies have examined sequential changes in chewing in terms of individual chews, rather than the whole sequence, by use of parameters such as (cycle) duration and masticatory muscle activity (e.g.…”

“…Several studies have examined sequential changes in chewing in terms of individual chews, rather than the whole sequence, by use of parameters such as (cycle) duration and masticatory muscle activity (e.g. maximum activity) [1,2,4,6,8,9]. Other studies have analysed the whole chewing sequence by use of parameters such as chewing time, number of cycles and other parameters [3,5,7].…”