Cognitive Keys in Psychophysical Estimation of Chemosensory Perception in University Students.

Psychophysical methods allow us to measure the relationship between stimuli and sensory perception. Of these, Detection Threshold (DT) allows us to know the minimum concentration to produce taste identification. Given this, we wonder whether, for example, wine tasting experts are more capable of perceiving their sensory properties than other people, or whether they can distinguish them because they are better able to "describe" them.

[Cognitive implications in the psychophysical estimation of taste].

Introduction: in sensory perception of taste, it is difficult to learn the concepts of absolute threshold (AT), the psychophysical methods to estimate it and the influence exerted by prior knowledge on their perception and recognition, because they have little awareness.

Objective: to assess absolute thresholds of four basic flavors in a sample of healthy young people, in conditions of food restriction/without restriction, and to analyze the influence of prior knowledge of astringency in its detection-identification.

Methods: one hundred and fourteen participants with an average of 20.