Sensory Discrimination Testing with Children Karen Melissa Garcia Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Sensory Discrimination Testing with Children Karen Melissa Garcia Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Life Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Garcia, Karen Melissa, "Sensory Discrimination Testing with Children" (2011). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3871. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3871 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. SENSORY DISCRIMINATION TESTING WITH CHILDREN A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillments of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Food Science by Karen Melissa Garcia B.S., Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University, 2004 M.S., Food Science, Louisiana State University, 2006 May 2011 i DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Omer and Marta. You have provided me with everything I have, made me the person I am, and helped me achieve all I have today. I am truly blessed to have such supportive and loving parents. Thank you for everything you have done for me! ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all I would like to thank God for giving me the strength to pursue my PhD degree. I thank my major professor, Dr. Witoon Prinyawiwatkul, for his invaluable guidance and support. It was a great pleasure having him as my advisor. I also thank Dr. John Caprio, Dr. Subramaniam Sathivel, Dr. Jing Wang, and Dr. Zhimin Xu for serving on my dissertation committee. I want to express my gratitude to Dr. William Richardson, LSU AgCenter Chancellor, for the financial support. I thank Dr. David Boethel, Dr. David Morrison, and Dr. Michael Kennan for their support during the initial phase of my research. I am further indebted with Dr. Daniel Ennis for his time and advice. I would like to thank Carl Fink for his support and assistance with editing. I am grateful to my family, especially my parents for their emotional and financial support. I appreciate Ashley Bond Gutierrez, Kennet Carabante, Phantipha Charoenthaikij, Luis Espinoza, Miguel Gutierrez, Wannita Jirangrat, Piyaporn Muangprasit, Chanchira Primparian, Sriwiang Tipkanon, Damir Torrico, Pamarin Waimaleongora-Ek, and Wisdom Wardy. I would like to thank my collaborators, Dr. Andres Herrara Corredor and Dr. Penkwan Chompreeda. I also thank Dr. Judith Williams, Prof. Marta Garcia, and Mrs. Onya Carter for their assistance at the different educational facilities. Finally I thank all the children who participated in this research study; it would not have been possible without them. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiv ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 3 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Child Development and Its Effects on Sensory Test Performance ....................................... 5 2.2.1 Physiological Development ............................................................................................ 5 2.2.2 Cognitive Development .................................................................................................. 5 2.2.2.1 Verbal Skills............................................................................................................. 6 2.2.2.2 Attention Span ......................................................................................................... 7 2.2.2.3 Comprehension ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2.3 Perception and Development of Food Preferences ......................................................... 8 2.2.4 Differences between Children and Adults ...................................................................... 9 2.3 Sensory Testing with Children ............................................................................................ 10 2.3.1 Affective Methods ........................................................................................................ 11 2.3.2 Discrimination Methods ............................................................................................... 11 2.4 Special Topics in Discrimination Testing with Children .................................................... 14 2.4.1 Discrimination Testing ................................................................................................. 14 2.4.1.1 2-Alternative Forced Choice (2-AFC) Method...................................................... 15 2.4.1.2 The Triangle Method ............................................................................................. 16 2.4.1.3 3-Alternative Forced Choice Method (3-AFC)...................................................... 16 2.4.1.4 Method of Tetrads .................................................................................................. 17 2.4.2 The Paradox of Discriminatory Non-discriminators .................................................... 17 2.4.2.1 Thurstonian Modeling ............................................................................................ 18 2.4.3 The Variants of the Methods of Tetrads ....................................................................... 26 2.5 References ........................................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER 3. THE PARADOX OF DISCRIMINATORY NON-DISCRIMINATORS WITH CHILDREN AS SUBJECTS USING EASILY DISCRIMINABLE STIMULI .......................... 40 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 43 iv 3.2.1 Subjects ......................................................................................................................... 43 3.2.2 Stimuli .......................................................................................................................... 44 3.2.2.1 Honduras, Mexico, USA ........................................................................................ 44 3.2.2.2 Thailand ................................................................................................................. 44 3.2.3 Testing Conditions ........................................................................................................ 45 3.2.4 Experimental Design .................................................................................................... 45 3.2.5 Testing Protocol ............................................................................................................ 47 3.2.5.1 Experimental Session Overview ............................................................................ 49 3.2.6 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................ 50 3.3 Results ................................................................................................................................. 51 3.3.1 Honduras ....................................................................................................................... 51 3.3.1.1 Overall Performance .............................................................................................. 51 3.3.1.2 Individual Performance .......................................................................................... 55 3.3.2 Mexico .......................................................................................................................... 57 3.3.2.1 Overall Performance .............................................................................................. 58 3.3.2.2 Individual Performance .......................................................................................... 59 3.3.3 Thailand ........................................................................................................................ 60 3.3.3.1 Overall Performance .............................................................................................. 60 3.3.3.2 Individual Performance .........................................................................................