Subjects judged the time-course of the burn caused by 100 ppm capsaici
n applied to the tongue on Day 1 and Day 5. On Days 2-4, they tasted h
ard candy containing capsaicin. Most subjects did not show adaptation
within Day 1, but either plateaued after about 16 min or rose monotoni
cally for the entire 34 min. Intensity was less on Day 5 and levelled
off or declined for most subjects. Data were fit to a mathematical mod
el of adaptation. Adaptation across days was accounted for by changes
in the gains of the three processes. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Scien
ce Inc.