Assessment of Individual Differences in Sensory Evaluation

Abstract

The goal of this chapter is to convey that human sensory perception varies widely across individuals, and this can influence the sensations arising from foods, beverages, and oral pharmaceuticals, with downstream implications for acceptance, liking and/or use and intake. Thus, potential individual differences should be considered when determining the acceptability of new food products. Some of the biological causes of these perceptual differences will be discussed briefly, acknowledging that other chapters will focus on these aspects in greater detail. This chapter will instead focus on the various methods appropriate for use in adults to assess individual differences in variation, depending on the situation, and critically assess these methods in the context of best practice in measuring hedonic responses (i.e., acceptance, preference, and/or liking). A summary of evaluation methods suitable for a variety of scenarios will be presented for a range of different outcome goals.