A CROSS-CULTURAL-STUDY OF TASTE DISCRIMINATION WITH AUSTRALIANS AND JAPANESE

As part of a larger cross-cultural study of the chemoreceptive abiliti es and preferences of Australians and Japanese, this study investigate d the differential taste sensitivity of subjects from both cultures. T he results indicate that there are no significant differences between the abilities of subjects from the two cultures to discriminate small increments (just noticeable differences) in the intensities of the fou r common tastants: sucrose, sodium chloride, citric acid and caffeine. Furthermore, the Weber ratios found with each tastant were within the range of those reported in the literature. These findings represent f urther evidence for the view that differences in responses of subjects from different cultures to chemosensory stimuli are restricted to pre ference behaviour arising from experience rather than from genetically -based influences.