Subjective Intensity and Taste Preference

Using the method of magnitude estimation with .1M NaCl as standard, Ss rated a number of concentrations of sodium chloride, citric acid, sucrose and quinine hydrochloride for both intensity and preference. The resulting judgments, when plotted as a function of concentration on log-log coordinates, could in most cases be described by linear equations. The slope of the intensity function for each chemical was significantly different from the slope of the corresponding preference function for 4 out of 5 Ss. The slope differences may reflect the existence of an affective taste process that is mobilized when a person attends to the hedonic components of a sapid chemical.