TASTE INTENSITY AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS CONCENTRATION AND SOLVENT VISCOSITY

The method of magnitude estimation was used to determine how viscosities imparted by sodium carboxymethylcellulose affect the taste intensities of various concentrations of glucose, citric acid, sodium chloride and quinine sulfate. For almost all levels of concentration across the four substances, an increase in the viscosity of the aqueous solvent produced decreases in taste intensity. A power function with a negative slope was chosen to describe the relation between the apparent viscosity (V, in centipoises) and the taste intensity (T): T=kV^-n , where n varied between 0.05 and 0.20. The relation between the concentration of the sapid chemical and the taste intensity, in most instances, also conformed to a power function, although some deviations occurred at low stimulus levels.