A Rating‐Scale Method for Determining Absolute Taste Thresholds

摘要

SUMMARYAbsolute taste thresholds for salt and sweetness were determined by a combination of ascending‐series and rating‐scale methods: for salt a value only very slightly under previous quoted figures was obtained, for sugar a value of .002 p/p was obtained. The results also permitted a scaling of each taste description on the rating‐scales in terms of both j.n.d's above threshold and solution concentrations. Previous workers have doubted whether there is one single absolute threshold for taste: the present results suggest a number of thresholds in an ascending series may be defined operatio