SALTNESS, SWEETNESS, AND PREFERENCE: A study of quantitative relations in individual subjects

It was found that power functions described the individual relations between sodium chloride and sucrose concentration and the subjective variables of saltness and sweetness, and that there was a great variation over individuals with regard to the form of the saltness/pre preference and the sweetness/preference relations.

Abstract

Individual scales were constructed for saltness and preference in an experiment with eight subjects and for sweetness and preference in a second experiment with seven of these subjects. It was found (1) that power functions described the individual relations between sodium chloride and sucrose concentration, on the one hand, and the subjective variables of saltness and sweetness, on the other hand, (2) that the exponents exceeded 1 but varied greatly between subjects, and (3) that there was a great variation over individuals with regard to the form of the saltness/preference and the sweetness/preference relations.