Mai Tran

Mr. Bruehl
Psychology IB HL - 3
01 January 2006

An Investigation on Perceptual Sets

Introduction

Sensation and perception are impossible to separate, because they are part of one
continuous process. Our senses include sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Without
these senses, life would be meaningless. Such a person without their senses would not
survive long. Many individuals have a fixed association between color and taste. This
association alters our perception and creates expectations such as how the food should
taste and smell. The aim of this experiment is to investigate the effects of the color of
drinks that affect the sense of taste.

Research supports there is a fixed association between color and taste. C.N Dubose
explains the relationship between the effects of colorants and flavorants on identification,
perceived flavor intensity, and hedonic quality of fruit-flavored beverages and cake in the
Journal of Food Science. Subjects tasted grape, lemon-line, cherry and orange drinks with
different colors. In his experiment, the subjects who tasted the drinks were able to see the
correct colors of the drink and were able to identify the taste of the drink correctly.
However, when they could not see the color of the drink, they made mistakes. Seventy
percent of the people who tasted grape drink said it was grape while fifteen percent of the
people thought it was lemon-line. Only thirty percent of the people who tasted the cherry
through it was cherry and forty percent thought the cherry drink was lemon lime. This
suggests that vision interacts with taste and color.

H.A Roth studied the relationship between perceived sweetness and color in lemon and
lime flavored drinks in the Journal of Food Science. The subjects were between the ages
of twenty and twenty five. There were five different sweetness levels and five different
colors of lemon and lime drinks that were used. Subjects reported that the drink became
sweeter because of the color of intensity. The color intensity ranging from light to dark
demonstrates that color does affect the taste of each of the drinks.

According to N Oram’s experiment with the influence of flavor and color on drink
identification by children and adults in the Psychobiology indicated that young subjects
made more color associated errors. This generally suggests that they relied on the color of
the drink than the older subjects to make a decision about its taste. This generally suggests
that there is a fixed association between color and taste that alters our perception.

A study performed by J.A Stillman explains how color influences flavor identification in
fruit-flavored beverages in the Journal of Food Science. Subjects were at least fifteen
years old. There were uncolored, red, yellow-orange and green colors that were used to
test the ability of subjects to identify raspberry-flavored drinks and orange-flavored drinks.
The ability to identify and orange flavors correctly was reduced in uncolored and odd
colored drink samples. This suggests that again, color affects the sense of taste.
All these studies indicate that there is a fixed association between color and taste. The
learned associations may alter our perceptions and create expectations such as how the
food should smell and taste like. I will attempt to verify this by conducting a small-scale
research on the affects of the color of drinks that affect the sense of taste of high school
students. My study will be conducted at University High School in an empty classroom.
My study will be based on DuBose’s experiment on the effects of colorants and flavorants
on identification, perceived flavor intensity, and hedonic quality of fruit-flavored beverages
and cake as well as Stillman’s experiment of how color influences flavor identification in
fruit-flavored beverages. Most of the drinks will be fruit flavored.

Through the research and conclusions above, my hypothesis will be:

Individuals who are exposed to the different colors of beverages will more likely
speculate erroneously however after savoring the beverages, the individuals will
significantly distinguish the flavors appropriately.

The null hypothesis will be:

Individuals who are exposed to the different colors of beverages will less likely
speculate erroneously than those who are not exposed to the different colors of
beverages.

Method Part 1: Design

Experimentation will be the method used in this investigation. The independent variable of
this experiment will be the color beverages. The dependent variable will be the effects of
the color drinks that affect the sense of taste.

Experimentation was chosen to allow the researcher more control of the experiment. The
experiment can be repeated as long as there is a detailed procedure. The experiment that is
repeated allows the results and conclusions to be more valid and reliable. However, the
disadvantage of this design is that as more participants participated in the experiment,
there will be individual differences which could also impinge the results obtained.

The problem of deception is addressed with the issuing of a document of consent that each
subject is to sign before the experiment. The document will be brief on what the subjects
will be put through and the right to withdraw from the experiment. Individuals are given
the choice to attend a debriefing session for feedback of the experimental results.

Method Part 2: Participants

The experiment will involve two groups of subjects, the control group and the
experimental group. Both groups will contain ten subjects randomly chosen from students.
The students are from University High School within the range of fifteen to eighteen years
of age. The age range is specified to indicate that this experiment would minimize errors.
The names of all the students will be selected randomly. The names will be drawn from a
plastic bag. Random sampling will allow the results to be generalized.

Method Part 3: Procedure

Materials
Materials will include the following listed below:
Food Coloring
Three different beverages (Apple, Grape, and Lemon)
Small cups
Spoon (to stir the food coloring with the drinks)
Papers
Writing utensils
Paper Towels
Permanent Black Marker (to label the cups ranging from 1 to 5)

Prior to the experimentation, the researcher must provide three original beverages
on the desks. Everything must be prepared prior to the experiment like the design
below:

Day One

1. Subjects were randomly assigned into the control group and the experimental
group known as group A and group B. Group A will enter into an empty
classroom with chairs and tables.
2. Each subject was assigned randomly to different desks with a paper and a
writing utensil.
3. Each individual would be assign to random desks, separated from everyone to
prevent cheating.
4. The group will be instructed what they were to be doing by the researcher.
5. The cups are label one through three.
6. The subjects will identify which flavor is which ranging from apple, grape and
lemon through writing.
7. The subjects will taste the beverages. The subjects are only allow to take one sip
or gulp of the drink and write the correct flavor on the piece of paper.
7. After all three beverages are tasted, the researcher will go around the classroom
and pick up the answers, placing them into a folder that is label group A.
8. After the researcher finishes picking up the answers and placing those answers
into the folder, the researcher reminds the subjects not to discuss their answers
with anyone.

Prior to the experimentation, the researcher must provide three original beverages
in different colors through using food coloring on the desks like the following
design below:

Day Two

1. Ten subjects who were randomly assigned into group B. Like Group A, Group
B will enter into an empty classroom with chairs and tables.
 2. Each subject was assigned randomly to different desks with a paper and a
writing utensil.
3. Each individual would be assign to random desks, separated from everyone to
prevent cheating.
4. The group will be instructed what they were to be doing by the researcher.
5. Subjects will be guessing what the flavor of each of the three beverages are
through writing.
6. After the subjects guess the flavor of all five beverages, the individuals will be
tasting the beverages. The subjects are only allowed to take one sip or gulp of the
drink and write the correct flavor.
7. After all five beverages are tasted, the researcher will go around the classroom
and pick up the answers, placing them into a folder that is label group B.
8. After the researcher finishes picking up the answers and placing those answers
into the folder, the researcher reminds the subjects not to discuss their answers
with anyone.

Table and Graph of the results

Summary: Average value of the results before tasting the beverages indicates that those in the control
group perform better than those in the variable group. Further analysis using the different colors have
further evidence to prove the difference between the two set of results are significant, indicating that color
does affect taste.

Summary: Average value of the results after tasting the beverages indicates that the control and variable
group both have the same results.

Discussion