Does Taste Recollection vary with age? By Kayla and Jess

Aim and Hypothesis Our aim was to discover whether taste recollection varies with age. We believe that the older you are, the more foods you will recognise by taste, rather than sight. Our aim was to discover whether taste recollection varies with age. We believe that the older you are, the more foods you will recognise by taste, rather than sight.

Method Ten people were selected from each of prep, year 7, year 12 and adult. They were blind folded and each given 7 pairs of similar foods. They were asked to identify the foods. Some examples of this were Ham and Chicken or Solo and Deep Spring. The results were recorded.

RESULTS

The Statistics Average of Correct Guesses Prep 57.1% Year % Year % Adults 92%

Analysis During testing it became obvious: That most Tasters found Solo and Deep Spring and Cheddar cheese and Mozzarella cheese difficult to separate. That most Tasters found ice cream and whipped cream, the meats and the chocolates easy to distinguish. These results may, in part, be due to a difference in texture rather than taste.

Conclusion The hypothesis was supported. The experiment proves that the older you are, the better taste recollection you have because, with age, you have experienced more tastes and your taste buds have become more familiar with them. Although there was a difference in results, the difference between Year 7’s Year 12’s and Adults was not high, showing that most food recognition skills develop at a young age.