Hedonic responses to taste solutions: a cross-cultural study of Japanese and Australians

Abstract

A group of Japanese and a group of Australians rated their liking for solutions of seven tastants: sucrose, NaCl, citric acid, caffeine and three umami tastes (MSG, IMP, GMP). The patterns of response were similar in both groups for all of the tastants. Differences between the groups were evident at the higher concentrations of citric acid, GMP and MSG, and also at the lowest concentration of MSG. There were no differences in the hedonic ratings for sucrose, NaCl or caffeine. Analysis of the response patterns of individuals across the range of concentrations revealed that the mean response patterns were generally a good representation of each group. These data suggest that the two groups were more similar than different in their responses to tastants in solution.