Repeatability of Taste Recognition Threshold Measurements with QUEST and Quick Yes–No

Abstract

Taste perception, although vital for nutrient sensing, has long been overlooked in sensory assessments. This can, at least in part, be attributed to challenges associated with the handling of liquid, perishable stimuli, but also with scarce efforts to optimize testing procedures to be more time-efficient. We have previously introduced an adaptive, QUEST-based procedure to measure taste sensitivity thresholds that was quicker than other existing approaches, yet similarly reliable. Despite its advantages, the QUEST procedure lacks experimental control of false alarms (i.e., response bias) and psychometric function slope. Variations of these parameters, however, may also influence the threshold estimate. This raises the question as to whether a procedure that simultaneously assesses threshold, false-alarm rate, and slope might be able to produce threshold estimates with higher repeatability, i.e., smaller variation between repeated measurements. Here, we compared the performance of QUEST with a method that allows measurement of false-alarm rates and slopes, quick Yes–No (qYN), in a test–retest design for citric acid, sodium chloride, quinine hydrochloride, and sucrose recognition thresholds. We used complementary measures of repeatability, namely test–retest correlations and coefficients of repeatability. Both threshold procedures yielded largely overlapping thresholds with good repeatability between measurements. Together the data suggest that participants used a conservative response criterion. Furthermore, we explored the link between taste sensitivity and taste liking or which we found, however, no clear association.

Associations between Taste and Smell Sensitivity, Preference and Quality of Life in Healthy Aging—The NutriAct Family Study Examinations (NFSE) Cohort

“…Then, they rated alertness on a 7-point scale with 1 = tired and 7 = very awake and again hunger before they rated how much they could eat of their favorite dish now (on a 7-point scale from 1 = nothing to 7 = as much as I could get). Finally, taste and smell sensitivity [ 22 , 23 ] were measured.…”

“…Tastants were prepared by diluting prototypical chemicals that are known to elicit a clear taste perception in deionized water: citric acid (sour; M = 192.12 g/mol), sodium chloride (salty; M = 58.44 g/mol), quinine hydrochloride dihydrate (bitter; M = 396.91 g/mol), and sucrose (sweet; M = 342.30 g/mol). Concentrations were equidistantly spaced on a decadic logarithmic grid for each tastant based on an established protocol [ 23 , 27 ]: citric acid, 0.015 mM to 46.846 mM (14 log 10 steps; step width: 0.269); sodium chloride, 0.342 mM to 342.231 mM (12 log 10 steps; step width: 0.273); quinine, 0.077 × 10 −3 mM to 3.131 mM (21 log 10 steps; step width: 0.23); and sucrose, 0.073 mM to 584.283 mM (14 log 10 steps; step width: 0.3). Taste solutions were presented at room temperature.…”

Associations between Taste and Smell Sensitivity, Preference, and Quality of Life in Healthy Aging - The NutriAct Family Study Examinations (NFSE) Cohort

“…Then, they rated alertness on a 7-point scale with 1=tired and 7=very awake and again hunger before they rated how much they could eat of their favorite dish now (on a 7-point-scale from 1=nothing to 7=as much as I could get). Finally, taste and smell sensitivity were measured [22,23].…”

“…Tastants were prepared by diluting prototypical chemicals that are known to elicit a clear taste perception in deionized water: citric acid (sour; M=192.12 g/mol), sodium chloride (salty; M=58.44 g/mol), quinine hydrochloride dihydrate (bitter; M=396.91 g/mol), and sucrose (sweet; M=342.30 g/mol). Concentrations were equidistantly spaced on a decadic logarithmic grid for each tastant based on an established protocol [23,27]: citric acid, 0.015 mM to 46.846 mM (14 log10 steps; step width: 0.269); sodium chloride, 0.342 mM to 342.231 mM (12 log10 steps; step width: 0.273); quinine, 0.077 × 10−3 mM to 3.131 mM (21 log10 steps; step width: 0.23); and sucrose, 0.073 mM to 584.283 mM (14 log10 steps; step width: 0.3). Taste solutions were presented at room temperature.…”

“…The maximum number of trials per threshold was 20. We used an adaptive test algorithm based on QUEST that has been shown to be reliable and quick [23,27,28]. The interval between two taste stimuli was approx.…”