Masking and adaptation of sugar sweetness intensity

Abstract

Subjects indicated the sweetness of solutions of sucrose and a mixture of sucrose and sodium chloride by means of magnitude scaling. The adapting effects of sucrose, sodium chloride and a mixture of both substances were investigated. The stimuli were delivered by a flow system to pre-defined tongue areas. Following adaptation to sucrose and to the mixture the subjective intensity of sugar sweetness decreased 54.2% and 54.6% respectively: these differences are statistically significant. Also a significant masking effect of sodium chloride was observed (87.9% reduction). No indications of cross-adaptation were found. The results were interpreted in favour of the independency of adaptation and masking.