The Standard Scales of Texture: Rescaling by Magnitude Estimation

Food items comprising the six “standard scales” of texture [Szczesniak et al., J. Food Sci. 28: 397 (1963)] were rescaled using the psychophysical method of modulus‐free magnitude estimation. The category scale position of each food item on the standard scales was plotted against the geometric mean magnitude estimate for that item. The category (interval) scale data were concave downward relative to the magnitude (ratio) scale data. These results underscore the differences that can be obtained by using either interval or ratio procedures and suggest that the attributes of “hardness,”“chewiness,”“fracturability,”“viscosity,”“gumminess,” and “adhesiveness” can be classified as “prothetic” continua.