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🌍 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱? 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻. Back in my grad school days with Prof. Michael O’Mahony, my early research focused on ever more powerful discrimination methods. The motto was simple: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. • The duo–trio and triangle methods lacked power • The 2-AFC improved sensitivity, but required specifying the sensory dimension • Then came the 𝘁𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱, championed b

Back in 1950, 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗮𝗺 introduced the 9-𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦 to replace the cumbersome multiple pairwise comparison approach. Today, most consumer studies rely on 𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, making direct preference comparisons rare — yet the interest in both 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 and 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 remains strong. What if we could get both — accurate 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 from 𝗺

It's all about sensory relationships! Thank you to the Swedish Sensory Network (SSN Sveriges Sensoriska Nätverk) and Diana Ismael, PhD for hosting last week’s webinar! On October 2, Dr. Benoît Rousseau shared why linking internal panel and consumer opinions is essential, and how Thurstonian modeling can provide valuable insights into investigating and building such relationships, using a variety of methodologies ranging from discrimination to preference testing. You can ac

THURSTONE WAS RIGHT! And so were Jan Frijters, Michael O'Mahony, Daniel Ennis, Hye-Seong Lee, John Ennis, Danielle van Hout, Carla Kuesten, Jian Bi, Michael Hautus, and many others who built on his work. It was a pleasure revisiting this research with so many colleagues in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. The experimental results provide strong confirmation of Thurstonian predictions in the long-running triangle vs. 3-AFC debate, highlighting the unique power of the Thurst

We were excited to learn that early work on umami taste by our very own Prof. Michael O’Mahony and Dr. Rie Ishii was recently featured in an SAT question — the standardized test used for admission to U.S. universities. It’s not every day that sensory science shows up in a college entrance exam! 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝟭 Soy sauce, made from fermented soybeans, is noted for its umami flavor. Umami—one of the five basic tastes along with sweet, bitter, salty, and sour—was formally classified

Even with all the promises AI brings to sensory and consumer science, our field still relies heavily on high-quality, consistent human data to drive reliable conclusions. This is what research says. What The Research Say: 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲 • 𝗔𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗱 𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 if the product causes 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗿𝘆𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 (e.g., spicy foods, strong-flavored products). • 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 when im