Psychological aspects tests

Loehle, C. (1987). Hypothesis testing in ecology psychological aspects and the importance of theory maturation. Quarterly Review of Biology 62, 397-409. 

The determination and analysis of sensory properties plays an important role in the development of new consumer products. Particularly in the food industry sensory analysis has become an indispensable tool in research, development, marketing and quality control. The discipline of sensory analysis covers a wide spectrum of subjects physiology of sensory perception, psychology of human behaviour, flavour chemistry, physics of emulsion break-up and flavour release, testing methodology, consumer research, statistical data analysis. Not all of these aspects are of direct interest for the chemometrician. In this chapter we will cover a few topics in the analysis of sensory data. General introductory books are e.g. Refs. [1-3]. 

Although it is not normally feasible to include comprehensive psychological or psychophysiological testing during the first tolerability trials, because medical aspects have to be paramount at this stage, it is possible to determine with considerable reliability any pronounced central actions of a substance as well as the approximate duration of such effects. Examples are effects on vigilance, attention, concentration and potential side effects such as sedation, stimulation, euphoric effects, etc. Further data also will be available as to the effects of the preparation on vital functions such as ECG, respiration and circulation, as well as on biochemical laboratory tests, liver enzyme and renal functions. 

ORGANOLEPTIC. A term widely used to describe consumer testing procedures for food products, perfumes, wines, and the like in which samples of various products, flavors, etc. are submitted to groups or panels. Such tests are a valuable aid in determining the acceptance of tlie products and thns may be viewed as a marketing technique, They also serve psychological purposes and are an important means of e valuating the subjective aspects of taste, odor, color, and related factors, The physical and chemical characteristics of foods are stimuli for the eye, ear, skin, nose, and mouth, whose receptors initiate impulses that travel to the brain, where perception occurs. 

An overarching assumption in professional settings is that good assessment underlies good treatment. When we say assessment in this context, we mean the use of mostly formal (e.g., standard psychological tests) but sometimes informal (e.g., casual observation of a patient s behavior on a treatment unit) procedures to measure some aspect of a person s functioning. Assessment of persons who appear for drug and alcohol treatment may include several different procedures. 

The main set of variables was used routinely to examine the relationships between psychological test performance and the various aspects of the child s history of solvent abuse the subsidiary set was used only for the basic comparison between cases and controls. 

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