ADAPTATION TO CAPSAICIN WITHIN AND ACROSS DAYS

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.