Warm-Up Effect in Panelist-Articulated-2-Alternative Forced Choice Test

Area of Science:

• Sensory science
• Food science
• Psychophysics

Background:

• Panelist performance in discrimination tests improves with warm-up samples.
• The benefit of warm-up samples in panelist-articulated-2-alternative forced choice (PA-2-AFC) tests is unknown.
• This study investigates the "warm-up" effect in PA-2-AFC tests.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a warm-up effect enhances the power of PA-2-AFC tests.
• To compare the power of PA-2-AFC tests with researcher-designated-2-alternative forced choice (RD-2-AFC) tests.
• To evaluate the impact of warm-up samples on RD-2-AFC test power.

Main Methods:

• 61 panelists performed RD-2-AFC tests (with and without warm-up samples) and PA-2-AFC tests.
• A reduced calorie, citrus-flavored, carbonated beverage was used.
• Panelists identified the more sour sample in RD-2-AFC; in PA-2-AFC, they articulated differences before the test.

Main Results:

• Warm-up samples significantly increased the power of RD-2-AFC tests.
• PA-2-AFC tests exhibited lower power compared to RD-2-AFC tests.
• No warm-up effect was observed in PA-2-AFC tests, potentially due to sample complexity.

Conclusions:

• Warm-up samples are beneficial for RD-2-AFC sensory discrimination testing.
• PA-2-AFC tests may lack power for complex samples without a warm-up effect.
• Findings aid in selecting powerful sensory discrimination testing methods and terms.