It´s a Matter of Taste. What are the factors that influence taste?

Wissenschaftliche Studie aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Psychologie - Methoden, Note: 1,0, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences), Veranstaltung: Research, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Abstract

The ability to distinguish food by taste is important daily. Yet people do differ in their ability to taste accurately, just like people do differ in their eye-sight or hearing performance. The purpose of the present study was to figure out different factors that influence our ability to taste. Specifically, we explored whether this ability is higher if we are used to the taste. Participants were asked to distinguish two drinks that tasted about the same. Those participants who scored high on correctly distinguished drinks were separated looked at and the extent to which they were used to the drink was measured. The analysis of the data suggests that the ability to successfully distinguish two tastes is not influenced by repeated exposure.