Abstract
Forty five subjects rated soup samples varying in salt concentration on three types of ratings, intensity, hedonic and relative-to-ideal. Estimates of the most preferred concentration for individual subjects from the hedonic and relative-to-ideal ratings correlated at r = 0.76 (P < 0.001). The estimates were not found to differ by t-test. The slope of the relative-to-ideal function correlated with the intensity slope at r = 0.31 (P < 0.05) but was more closely associated with the slope of a function derived from unfolding the hedonic ratings about the break point for individual subjects. These relationships were confirmed comparing the Weber ratios derived from the intensity ratings and tolerance discrimination ratios derived from the relative-to-ideal and unfolded hedonic ratings. Group data showed good agreement between intensity and relative-to-ideal ratings, since both are linearly related to the logarithm of concentration. These results suggest that relative-to-ideal ratings provide a more informative measure of most preferred concentration similar to that derived from hedonic ratings. The slope of the relative-to-ideal function reflects, in part, how concerned the subject is about deviations from ideal rather than being simply ratings of intensity in relation to the person's ideal. © 1989 Longman Group UK Limited.