The influence of response alternatives on sweet intensity.

TAMASI, O.; GLIEMMO, M F.; PASCUAL, M.; CAMPOS, C. A.; GERSCHENSON, L. N.; CALVIÑO, A.M.

Coimbra, Portugal

Congreso; THE TWENTY ANNUAL MEETING, ECHNER DAY 2004, 2004, Coimbra. Proceedings of theTwenty Annual Meeting, Fechner Day 2004; 2004

International Society for Psychophysics

Aqueous model systems of glucose, xylitol, and aspartame, presented alone, in binary as well as in ternary mixtures, and adjusted at pH 3 with citric acid were presented to two groups of subjects. One group of subjects was instructed to rate sweetness. The other group of subjects was instructed to estimate the total intensity and to divide it into the magnitude of sweet and sour qualities. Under both conditions it was observed a significant effect of type of sweetener and aspartame level on sweetness.  The triadic response alternative showed different suppressive effects of sweeteners on sourness.  An interactive effect of the type of sweetener and level of aspartame on total intensity of the heterogeneous sweet-sour systems was observed.