Sensory science

H. T. Lawless and B. P. Klein, Sensory Science Theory and Application in Foods, ift Basic Symposium Series, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1991, p. 441. 

G. B. Dijksterhuis, Procrustes analysis in sensory research, Ch. 7 in Multivariate analysis of data in sensory science (T. Naes and E. Risvik, eds), Elsevier, Amsterdam (1996). 

Volume 16 Multivariate Analysis of Data in Sensory Science, edited by T. Naes and E. Risvik... 

Vidal, S. et al., Effect of tannin composition and wine carbohydrates on astringency and bitterness. In 5th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium, Boston, 2003. 

Volume 16 Multivariate Analysis of Data in Sensory Science, edited by T. Naes and E. Risvik Volume 17 Data Analysis for Hyphenated Techniques, by E.J. Karjalainen and U.P. Karjalainen Volume 18 Signal Treatment and Signal Analysis in NMR, edited by D.N. Rutledge Volume 19 Robustness of Analytical Chemical Methods and Pharmaceutical Technological Products, edited by M.M.W.B. Hendriks, J.H. de Boer and A.K. Smilde... 

Joshi, V. K. (2006). Sensory Science Principles and Applications in Food Evaluation. Agrotech Publishing Academy, Udaipur (India) 527 pp. 

Sensory Sciences Center, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Texas at Houston, Houston, TX 77030... 

Sensory evaluation (sensory science) is a scientific discipline that concerns the presentation of a stimulus (in this case a flavor compound, a flavor, or flavored product) to a subject and then evaluation of the subject s response. The response is expressed as, or translated into, a numerical form so that the data can be statistically analyzed. The sensory scientist then collaborates with the research or product development team to interpret the results and to reach decisions. Sensory scientists stress that decisions, such as product formulation, are made by people, not by the results of a sensory test, although such results may provide powerful guidance in the decision-making process. 

Sensory science is unique in that it requires human subjects. This in itself creates challenges, some of which will be discussed in this paper. The sensory scientist, often working as a part of a research team, also is unique because training in a number of fields is necessary to the success of the program. The training of sensory scientists has not proceeded as rapidly as has the appreciation of and need for sensory scientists in the flavor and... 

To illustrate descriptive analysis, I will draw from both the wine and beer industry. Oregon State University s Sensory Science Laboratory, located in the Department of Food Science and Technology, is heavily involved in wine and beer research. The principle problems and solutions in the sensory analysis of wine and beer should be transferable to other products. Common wine descriptors, such as soft, hard, fat, are ambiguous. What do soft or hard mean when referring to wine The goal of descriptive analysis is to use precise terms, even referring to specific chemical entities when possible. In the wine industry, objective sensory analysis must overcome the historical romance of wine. 

In the future an all-embracing understanding of sensory intelligence, sensory creation, sensory technology and sensory science will contribute to the success of the flavour and fragrance industry. Sensory expertise reveals today how much is still to discover and innovate in our industry [25]. 

From the above examples, it is clear that a good understanding of sensory science and the techniques employed therein are vital and that experiments reported by people with insufficient understanding of sensory science can lead to very misleading results. Sensory science is described more fully in Chapter 8 and in Neuner-Jehle and Etzweiler s chapter in Muller and Lamparsky s book (Muller and Lamparsky, 1991). 

Image analysis can bring significant benefits to a number of areas of food sensory science and consumer understanding. 

Reviews of the association of chemical and sensory aspects were published as early as 1965 by Wick and later, for instance, by Vernin (1981), who gave examples of odor-structure relationship. Different structures can be related to similar odors, similar structures to different odors, and similar structures to similar odors. A statistical treatment of data became necessary to correlate analytical results with those obtained by sensory analysis, as stated by Adda and Jounela-Eriksson (1979). Since then, correlation between sensory analysis and instrumental analysis has been the subject of important sessions of the Weurman Flavor Research Symposia, for instance in the chapters on Sensory science in flavor research (Weurman 5th Meeting, 1987) or Correlation between sensory and instrumental analysis (Weurman 7th meeting, 1993). 

Acree (1993, 1997) summarized the history of GC-O, giving examples of its application in natural product chemistry. He speculated about its future, using it as a method to bridge the gap between sensory science and analytical chemistry. Acree emphasized the fact that none of the detectors used in gas chromatography is as sensitive as the human nose for many of the odorants found in foods. He noted that splitting devices can be altered by casual obstructions and, in all cases, reduce the dose of the odorant delivered to the sniffer . Deibler et al. (1999) reviewed the characteristics of the GC-O technique. 

Sdllner, K., Schieberle, P. (2009). Decoding the key aroma compounds of a Hungarian-type salami by molecular sensory science approaches. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 57, 4319 327. 

From a conceptual point of view, it must be noted that thanks to the generalized use of multivariate analysis techniques, researchers in sensory science have started to pay more attention to the relative positioning of the objects rather than to product scores on separate attributes. As a result, rather than measuring the stimulus by conventional physical means as a psychophysicist might do, one might create a multidimensional space, and then use the coordinates of that space as a surrogate set of physical measures made on the same stimuli in the test set (Moskowitz, 2003). 

Last but not least is the research in sensory methodology and in sensometrics that is actively contributing to the evolution of sensory science. Perhaps the main issue for this methodological research is to keep contributing to the development of new methods and adaptation of existing methods with due regard to the objectives and constraints for potential users of these methods. 

Nowadays, most programmes in sensory science include rapid sensory methods as well. However, it is noted that in many cases, professors naturally tend to teach techniques they have developed, or that they are used to applying in their research projects. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to have a comprehensive view of all existing sensory profiling techniques and related methods. In an online survey that we conducted in 2011 with attendees at the Pangbom Sensory Science Symposium, we observed a lack of knowledge and trust in alternative DA methods (Rogeaux et ai, 2011). 

Table 1.1 Summary of main outcomes from the 2011 online survey among Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium attendees (104 respondents)...

The evolution that is observed and encouraged in the use of sensory DA may conduct users of sensory measuranents to work differently, hopefully in a more integrated way. Improvements may indeed be expected in the way sensory science can contribute to product development and to research. 

In spite of these reservations, it may be anphasized that when appropriately applied, rapid sensory profiling techniques are powerful tools for clever use of sensory analysis. Many examples and testimonies of successful uses of these methods, both in industry and in acadania, are presented throughout this book. This wiU hopefully spark the interest of students in sensory programmes, as well as that of sensory professionals, sensory scientists and, more generally, all users of sensory data. May this book help them in their daily work, provide than with some solutions and contribute to fostering innovation in sensory science. 

O Mahony, M. (1991). Descriptive analysis and concept alignment. In Lawless, H. T. and Klein, B. P. (eds.) Sensory Science Theory and Applications in Foods. New York, Marcel Dekker, 223-267. 

Rogeaux, M., Lawlor, B., Punter, P. and Delarue, J. (2011). Current status and future directions for alternative descriptive sensory methods workshop. 9th Pangbom Sensory Science... 

Stone, H. and Sidel, J.L. (2009). Sensory science and consumer behavior. In Barbosa-Canovas, G., Mortimer, A., Lineback, D., Spiess, W, Buckle, K. and Colonna, P. (Eds), Global Issues in Food Science and Technology. Elsevier, New York, pp. 67-77. 

Although sensory evaluation began as an applied discipline independent from psychology, contemporary sensory science is strongly informed by psychophysics, the oldest branch of experimental psychology (see References [9-11]). Psychophysics refers to the quantitative study of the relationship between physical stimuli of known energy levels, and the sensations these stimuli produce. While these relationships were smdied in their own right for many years to understand human performance, many of the same methods can be readily apphed by the sensory practitioner to better understand products. 

Prescott J, Hayes JE, and Byrnes NK. (2014) Sensory science. In Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems. Neal Van Affen, editor-in-chief. Vol. 5, San Diego Elsevier. 80-101. 

Eaton C., ChayaC., Hewson L., Fernandez Vazquez R., Ng M., Femandez-Ruizd V, Smart K A., Bealin-Kelly R, Fenton A. and Hort J. (2013) Happiness from hoppiness Using consumers lexicons to compare emotional response between the UK and Spain. In 10th Pangbom Sensory Science Symposium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

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