Psychophysical Tracking Method to Assess Taste Detection Thresholds in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: The Taste Detection Threshold (TDT) Test

To address gaps in knowledge, our objectives were to (1) to determine whether there are age-related changes in sweet taste detection thresholds, as has been observed for sweet taste preferences, and (2) determine whether detection thresholds and taste preferences were significantly related to each other from childhood to adulthood. We combined data from studies that used the same validated psychophysical techniques to measure sucrose taste detection threshold and the most preferred sucrose concentration in children (n = 108), adolescents (n = 172), and adults (n = 205). There were significant effects of age group on both sucrose detection thresholds (p < 0.001) and most preferred sucrose concentration (p < 0.001). While children had higher sucrose detection thresholds than adolescents, who in turn tended to have higher detection thresholds than adults, both children and adolescent most preferred sucrose concentrations were higher than that of adults (all p < 0.05). Among each age group, and when combined, the lowest sucrose concentration detected was not significantly correlated with the most preferred sucrose concentration (all p > 0.18). These data provide further evidence that age-related changes in sucrose taste preferences that occur during adolescence cannot be explained by changes in taste sensitivity and that these two dimensions of sweet taste undergo distinct developmental trajectories from childhood to adulthood.

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Ejaculatory Pain

Anesthesiology ◽

10.1097/01.anes.0000270736.28324.61 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 107 (2) ◽

pp. 298-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

Eske K. Aasvang ◽

Bo Møhl ◽

Henrik Kehlet

Keyword(s):

Chronic Pain ◽

Sexual Dysfunction ◽

Quantitative Sensory Testing ◽

Groin Hernia ◽

Pain Treatment ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

Control Group ◽

Sensory Testing ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Pain Detection

Background Sexual dysfunction due to ejaculatory and genital pain after groin hernia surgery may occur in approximately 2.5% of patients. However, the specific psychosexological and neurophysiologic characteristics have not been described, thereby precluding assessment of pathogenic mechanisms and treatment strategies. Methods Ten patients with severe pain-related sexual dysfunction and ejaculatory pain were assessed in detail by quantitative sensory testing and interviewed by a psychologist specialized in evaluating sexual functional disorders and were compared with a control group of 20 patients with chronic pain after groin hernia repair but without sexual dysfunction, to identify sensory changes associated with ejaculatory pain. Results Quantitative sensory testing showed significantly higher thermal and mechanical detection thresholds and lowered mechanical pain detection thresholds in both groups compared with the nonpainful side. Pressure pain detection threshold and tolerance were significantly lower in the ejaculatory pain group compared with the control group. 'The maximum pain was specifically located at the external inguinal annulus in all ejaculatory pain patients, but not in controls. The psychosexual interview revealed no major psychosexual disturbances and concluded that the pain was of somatic origin. All patients with ejaculatory pain had experienced major negative life changes and deterioration in their overall quality of life and sexual function as a result of the hernia operation. Conclusions Postherniotomy ejaculatory pain and pain-related sexual dysfunction is a specific chronic pain state that may be caused by pathology involving the vas deferens and/or nerve damage. Therapeutic strategies should therefore include neuropathic pain treatment and/or surgical exploration.

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Is Peripheral Motion Detection Affected by Myopia?

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.683153 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Junhan Wei ◽

Deying Kong ◽

Xi Yu ◽

Lili Wei ◽

Yue Xiong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Field ◽

Spatial Frequency ◽

Motion Detection ◽

High Speed ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

High Spatial Frequency ◽

Spherical Equivalent ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Motion Speed

PurposeThe current study was to investigate whether myopia affected peripheral motion detection and whether the potential effect interacted with spatial frequency, motion speed, or eccentricity.MethodsSeventeen young adults aged 22–26 years participated in the study. They were six low to medium myopes [spherical equivalent refractions −1.0 to −5.0 D (diopter)], five high myopes (<-5.5 D) and six emmetropes (+0.5 to −0.5 D). All myopes were corrected by self-prepared, habitual soft contact lenses. A four-alternative forced-choice task in which the subject was to determine the location of the phase-shifting Gabor from the four quadrants (superior, inferior, nasal, and temporal) of the visual field, was employed. The experiment was blocked by eccentricity (20° and 27°), spatial frequency (0.6, 1.2, 2.4, and 4.0 cycles per degree (c/d) for 20° eccentricity, and 0.6, 1.2, 2.0, and 3.2 c/d for 27° eccentricity), as well as the motion speed [2 and 6 degree per second (d/s)].ResultsMixed-model analysis of variances showed no significant difference in the thresholds of peripheral motion detection between three refractive groups at either 20° (F[2,14] = 0.145, p = 0.866) or 27° (F[2,14] = 0.475, p = 0.632). At 20°, lower motion detection thresholds were associated with higher myopia (p < 0.05) mostly for low spatial frequency and high-speed targets in the nasal and superior quadrants, and for high spatial frequency and high-speed targets in the temporal quadrant in myopic viewers. Whereas at 27°, no significant correlation was found between the spherical equivalent and the peripheral motion detection threshold under all conditions (all p > 0.1). Spatial frequency, speed, and quadrant of the visual field all showed significant effect on the peripheral motion detection threshold.ConclusionThere was no significant difference between the three refractive groups in peripheral motion detection. However, lower motion detection thresholds were associated with higher myopia, mostly for low spatial frequency targets, at 20° in myopic viewers.

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A Robot Has a Mind of Its Own Because We Intuitively Share It

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10186531 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (18) ◽

pp. 6531

Author(s):

Mizuho Sumitani ◽

Michihiro Osumi ◽

Hiroaki Abe ◽

Kenji Azuma ◽

Rikuhei Tsuchida ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pain Intensity ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

Two Dimensions ◽

Virtual Agent ◽

Cold Pain ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Pain Detection ◽

Pain Experiences ◽

The Mind

People perceive the mind in two dimensions: intellectual and affective. Advances in artificial intelligence enable people to perceive the intellectual mind of a robot through their semantic interactions. Conversely, it has been still controversial whether a robot has an affective mind of its own without any intellectual actions or semantic interactions. We investigated pain experiences when observing three different facial expressions of a virtual agent modeling affective minds (i.e., painful, unhappy, and neutral). The cold pain detection threshold of 19 healthy subjects was measured as they watched a black screen, then changes in their cold pain detection thresholds were evaluated as they watched the facial expressions. Subjects were asked to rate the pain intensity from the respective facial expressions. Changes of cold pain detection thresholds were compared and adjusted by the respective pain intensities. Only when watching the painful expression of a virtual agent did, the cold pain detection threshold increase significantly. By directly evaluating intuitive pain responses when observing facial expressions of a virtual agent, we found that we ‘share’ empathic neural responses, which can be intuitively emerge, according to observed pain intensity with a robot (a virtual agent).

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Best Estimated Aroma and Taste Detection Threshold for Guaiacol in Water and Apple Juice

Journal of Food Science ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2621.2005.tb07201.x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 70 (4) ◽

pp. S267-S269 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Thomas A. Eisele ◽

Melinda J. Semon

Keyword(s):

Apple Juice ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

Taste Detection

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Performance of Fiber-Optic Raman Probes for Analysis of Gas Mixtures in Enclosures

Applied Spectroscopy ◽

10.1366/0003702021954250 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 83-90 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

John M. Berg ◽

Karen C. Rau ◽

D. Kirk Veirs ◽

Laura A. Worl ◽

James T. McFarlan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Optical Fibers ◽

Fiber Optic ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

Gas Mixtures ◽

Cylindrical Sample ◽

Colored Glass ◽

Signal Acquisition ◽

Fiber Optic Probe ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Factors Affecting

The feasibility of using fiber-optic Raman probes to identify and quantify gases in enclosures is investigated by measuring and comparing detection thresholds using several probe and enclosure designs. Unfiltered, non-imaging, fiber-optic probes are shown to achieve lower detection thresholds than a filtered, imaging, fiberoptic probe, provided that light scattering within the sample enclosure is minimized and provided that a window is not used between the probe and the analyte gas. Achievable thresholds for hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane in gas mixtures are demonstrated to be below 1 kPa with ten seconds signal acquisition and 0.1 kPa with twenty minutes signal acquisition with the use of 0.4 W of 532-nm excitation. Ambient carbon dioxide in air (.03 kPa) is shown to be detectable in a twenty minute acquisition, and ambient water vapor is well above the detection threshold. Background signals generated within the optical fibers remain the principal factors limiting detection thresholds. Factors affecting the magnitudes of these signals reaching the detector are investigated and discussed. A flat piece of light-absorbing colored glass tilted to direct reflected light away from the fiber-optic probe performs well as a beam stop to reduce background signal in a simple, cylindrical sample enclosure.

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Temporal Integration and the Masking Effect of Spatiotemporal Noise

Perception ◽

10.1068/v970238 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 26 (1_suppl) ◽

pp. 216-216 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

H T Kukkonen ◽

J Rovamo

Keyword(s):

Spectral Density ◽

Exposure Duration ◽

Temporal Integration ◽

Detection Threshold ◽

Critical Duration ◽

Masking Effect ◽

Integration Time ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Spatial Noise ◽

Spatiotemporal Noise

In computer-generated spatiotemporal noise every stimulus frame contains a new static noise sample. The spectral density of white spatiotemporal noise is calculated by multiplying the squared rms contrast of noise by the product of the noise check area and the exposure duration of each noise check. When the exposure duration of each noise check is gradually increased, the spectral density of spatiotemporal noise increases, reaching its maximum when noise becomes static. In static spatial noise both stimulus and noise checks have the same duration. The signal-to-noise ratio is known to be constant at detection threshold. Detection thresholds should thus increase in proportion to the spectral density of spatiotemporal noise, which increases with the duration of the noise checks. We measured detection thresholds for stationary cosine gratings embedded in spatiotemporal noise. The exposure duration of the noise checks was increased from one frame duration to the total exposure duration of the stimulus grating. Noise was thus gradually transformed from spatiotemporal to static spatial noise. The contrast energy threshold increased in proportion to the spectral density of spatiotemporal noise up to a noise check duration found to be equal to the integration time for the stimulus grating without noise. After this, energy thresholds remained constant in spite of the increase in the spectral density of spatiotemporal noise. This suggests that the masking effect of spatiotemporal noise increases with the duration of noise checks up to the critical duration marking the saturation of the temporal integration of the signal.

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Vibrotactile Frequency Discrimination in Human Hairy Skin

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00483.2005 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 95 (3) ◽

pp. 1442-1450 ◽

Cited By ~ 116

Author(s):

D. A. Mahns ◽

N. M. Perkins ◽

V. Sahai ◽

L. Robinson ◽

M. J. Rowe

Keyword(s):

Detection Threshold ◽

Weber Fraction ◽

Frequency Discrimination ◽

Glabrous Skin ◽

Striking Similarity ◽

Discriminative Performance ◽

Detection Thresholds ◽

Low Frequencies ◽

Hairy Skin ◽

Finger Tip

The human capacity for vibrotactile frequency discrimination has been compared directly for glabrous and hairy skin regions by means of a two-alternative, forced-choice psychophysical procedure in five subjects. Sinusoidal vibratory stimuli, delivered by means of a 4-mm-diam probe, were first used to obtain detection threshold values for the two skin sites, the finger tip and the dorsal forearm, at four standard frequencies, 20, 50, 100, and 200 Hz. Values confirmed previous results showing detection thresholds were markedly higher on hairy skin than on glabrous skin. For the discrimination task, each standard frequency, at an amplitude four times detection threshold, was paired with a series of comparison frequencies, and discrimination capacity then was quantified by deriving from psychometric function curves, measures of the discriminable frequency increment (Δƒ) and the Weber Fraction (Δƒ/ƒ), which, when plotted as a function of the four standard frequencies, revealed similar capacities for frequency discrimination at the two skin sites at the standard frequencies of 20, 100, and 200 Hz but an equivocal difference at 50 Hz. Cutaneous local anesthesia produced a marked impairment in vibrotactile detection and discrimination at the low standard frequencies of 20 and 50 Hz but little effect at higher frequencies. In summary, the results reveal, first, a striking similarity in vibrotactile discriminative performance in hairy and glabrous skin despite marked differences in detection thresholds for the two sites, and, second, the results confirm that vibrotactile detection and discrimination in hairy skin depend on superficial receptors at low frequencies but depend on deep, probably Pacinian corpuscle, receptors for high frequencies.

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