Compusense

Who cares about Time Intensity?

Chris
Banana split - Molecular Gastronomy

Banana split - Molecular Gastronomy

So many sensory experiences have time as a key element. Delight is a combination of Liking (a pleasant hedonic experience) and Surprise (the unexpected). What better way to create surprise in a product than to have an unexpected change in perception taking place? When the molecular gastronomer, Heston Blumenthal makes bacon and egg ice cream for you, it is a series of surprises. When he drops a green tea and vodka ice cream on your tongue after forming it in liquid nitrogen at -80 degrees, it explodes in your mouth and releases the vodka followed by the cooling sweetness of the ice cream and the flavor of green tea. When you consume a refreshing beverage that is initially sweet, but sweetness continues to linger when all other sensation is gone, your liking for the product starts to slide. The first taste of a wine that is astringent may be pleasant, but continued sips intensify the astringency to the point of revulsion. When your chewing gum loses all flavor and becomes a piece of rubber in your mouth, it’s not pleasant.

These are all questions that time-intensity (TI) can help to answer. After all, we measure the sensory properties of products to understand what consumers like and to provide product developers with reliable information to help them create better products. If we don’t have reliable data about the impact of product reformulation, we are just guessing. The role of Sensory Science is to provide valid and robust information to help marketing and product development make well informed decisions.

The details of Time-Intensity procedures can be found in texts like Lawless and Heymann’s Sensory Evaluation of Food, or in the ASTM Standard Guide E1909 on Time Intensity.

Measuring Multiple-Attribute Time-Intensity

Chris

I have been interested in following more than just one or two attributes in a dynamic sensory test for quite a long time. Although the Dual Attribute Time-Intensity (DATI) method was published almost 15 years ago, it has proved to be a challenging method to train panelists to use. Very few publications have been written using DATI. Ever since the submission of the first DATI manuscript, reviewers have expressed their concern with the number of tasks a panelist is asked to attend to, almost simultaneously.

In fact, we are expecting panelists to multi-task. A survey of the current literature on human multi-tasking concludes that “multi-tasking is a myth”. Humans cannot focus on two or more tasks simultaneously; we tend to toggle between tasks in a process called “Continuous Partial Attention”. The result is that performance actually gets poorer as the number of tasks increase. There are more errors and a longer time is required than if each task was conducted sequentially. The cognitive load of following sensory attributes and measuring intensity exceeds our ability to process.

In effect, if the attributes that interest us are changing rapidly (measured over a few seconds), for example the bouquet of a wine as it responds to air, we are hard-pressed to register their sequence and to have a computer time-stamp the response. This is the domain of Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) or Temporal Order of Sensation (TOS). However, if the changes are a bit slower, there are several strategies that we can apply to measure their intensity.

Progressive Profiling uses a series of line scales that are on the same screen (practically a maximum of 5). The screen appears and the panelist scores the line-scale attributes in exactly the same way as standard descriptive profiling. Then the screen changes to a neutral background for a fixed time-delay (anywhere from 5 seconds to several minutes, depending upon the product) before the same screen of attributes appears for the next time point. This technique has often been used in conventional profiling to measure aftertaste a fixed time after swallowing. This puts all panelists into the same time line.

Progressive Profiling has the benefit of being a simple descriptive analysis task that our panelists are well trained to accomplish. The attributes are fixed, making their measurement sequential and repetitive, reducing the cognitive load. Data may be analyzed by ANOVA at each time point or it may be presented as actual time-intensity curves for the duration of the test.

A variation on this method that has been conducted by Lisa Methven at the University of Reading is called Sequential Profiling, “The effect of consumption volume on profile and liking of oral nutritional supplements of varied sweetness: Sequential profiling and boredom tests”. 2010. L. Methven, et al. Food Quality and Preference (21:8) 948-955.

We will continue our development of temporal methods in search of reliable and useful tools that answer research questions. Please contact me if you have any ideas or thoughts to share.

Highlights From The 2011 Nordic Workshop in Sensory Science

John

Could this be lunch?

The Nordic Workshop in Sensory Science was held at a spa resort in Snekkersten, Denmark, not far from the castle setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Compusense exhibited at the event, providing us with an opportunity to connect with our clients as well as researchers and practitioners working in the field. This is our tangible show of support for the field of sensory and consumer studies in the Nordic countries. The theme this time was professionalism, with emphasis on the action words of the discipline: evoke, measure, analyze, and interpret.

The relatively small conference provides many opportunities for discussion, both public and private. I appreciated having chances to socialize, learn, and discuss professional and research interests, and this, along with workshop activities were certainly the highlight of the event. On the program, three presentations stood out for me:

Dr. Mari Sandell (University of Turku) gave an interesting talk that demonstrated relatedness between genotypes, PROP/PTC sensitivity, and food choice. PROP/PTC sensitive individuals experience bitter more intensely in many foods, which often translates into lower veggie consumption and heavier sugar use. These investigations underscore the complexity inherent in studying consumer preferences of where populations of interest might be quite heterogeneous in their sensory perceptions. I thought that her findings squared nicely with conclusions made by Dr. John Hayes (Penn State) at the recent Pangborn Symposium, who discussed bitter receptors and their relationship to healthy eating, as well as the importance of using a bitter substance appropriate for the study when screening potential assessors.

Chantal Gilbert (former Compusense statistician now with Campden BRI) had the dreaded early-morning- after-the-conference-banquet slot, with the added challenge of presenting statistics to non-statisticians (mostly). It’s been some time since I’ve had the opportunity to hear Chantal present, and true to form she gave a very engaging talk. The emphasis was on similarity testing, anova/regression, and the (mis-)interpretation of PCA biplots. Statistics is more than pressing a button on a piece of software, and she illustrated this nicely, pointing out several potential pitfalls.

Dr. Frank Meijer (DSM) discussed a specific ingredient formulation for a Japanese food which elicited the sensation of kokumi, a putative sixth taste. The sensation is well identified in Japanese society, and associated with thickness, roundness and balance, often arising after long processes such as stewing or cheese-ripening. It is often expressed alongside umami, and at a receptor level involves Calcium-sensing receptors on the tongue that respond to certain peptides (e.g. glutathione). This was one of those rare presentations that made me sit up and begin furious note-taking. Later, I discovered that his presentation will be among those available on the conference website.

There were other good presentations, but the only other one I will mention here was the banquet keynote by Thomas Raab, well-known popularizer of science in Denmark. His high-energy talk on the brain and the senses delivered a live version of television-quality edu-tainment, peppered with well-timed humour. Sometimes he poked fun at himself. Sometimes he poked fun at ants, who he says carry a living ant “kicking and screaming” to the burial heap based on a chemical cue (oleic acid) applied by a researcher. Sometimes he directed his humour, gently or pointedly, at us. His parting message: if we really want to be agents of positive change for a better and more sustainable world, we should use our knowledge to get people in the developed world eating insects instead of meat. Following that challenge, you might have expected chocolate crickets to be served for dessert, allowing our speaker to take a proper leadership role. I fear it was an opportunity lost for the cause of entomophagy, but perhaps some intrepid researcher will prove me wrong when the next Nordic sensory workshop to be held in Helsinki in 2013.

Getting ready for Pangborn!

Michael

The CN Tower and the Toronto skyline at dusk

Summer is almost always a busy time for Compusense, and we’re gearing up for our biggest event of the season, the Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium.

We’ve been attending the Pangborn Symposium since its inception in 1992 and have found it an excellent opportunity to connect with colleagues, enjoy the company of friends and be challenged by new ideas in sensory science. We’ve been greatly anticipating this year’s symposium, and having it so close to home makes it even more exciting for us.

Prior to the start of the conference, a number of us will be attending the Institute for Perception‘s Current Topics In Sensory and Consumer Science course. I’m particularly interested in their coverage of tetrad testing as compared to triangle tests.

During the conference, we’ll have two posters — Chris and Sheila will be presenting their work on internet-based panelist training with feedback calibration (you can read about our approach to feedback calibration here). Moyi Li, who has been with us while she’s been working on her PhD in statistics at the University of Guelph will present her work on a new method for Time Intensity analysis.

On Wednesday at 3:20pm, John will be giving an oral presentation on the refinement of a statistical framework for an own-brand large-scale consumer quality program.

We’ll also be exhibiting at the symposium, and we’ll be previewing the latest release of Compusense at-hand! We’re quite excited about this release as we’ve included a lot of great new features, including Time Intensity and a new approach to ranking.

Toronto can be a great place to visit this time of year – the temperature is usually a lot more pleasant than the hotter days of August, and autumn is just around the corner. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a glimpse of the leaves turning the gorgeous red, orange and yellows that make this time of year so beautiful in Southern Ontario.

As Compusensers are no strangers to Toronto, we’re very happy to show people around and give you tips about some of the great things the city has to offer. It’s a diverse and interesting place, with something for everyone. Come by our booth or say hi when you see us at sessions, and we’ll be happy to share Toronto with you from a “local” perspective.

Check out this great site to get some ideas about what to do while you’re in Toronto. See you next week!

Compusense Sponsors the Ride to Conquer Cancer

Compusense

Compusense is proud to have sponsored John Plater and Team Dave Scott in their journey from Toronto to Niagara Falls to raise money to benefit the Campbell Family Institute at The Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.

The 5-member team raised nearly $13,000 to support research, teaching and care at The Princess Margaret.

Congratulations, John and Team Dave Scott!

Photo courtesy of Keis Photography.

Photos from IFT 2011 in New Orleans

Compusense

Sheila’s Notes from IFT 2011 in New Orleans

Sheila

IFT 2011 LogoThe IFT2011 Annual Meeting and Expo was held in New Orleans, Louisiana June 11th to 14th.

The first day of the conference was a memorable one! Our Chairman, Dr. Chris Findlay received the inaugural 2011 Sensory and Consumer Sciences Achievement Award for his admirable contributions to the field of sensory and consumer sciences. Dr. Howard Schutz, Emeritus Professor of Consumer Sciences, University of California at Davis also received this prestigious award. Congratulations to both of you!

The scientific symposiums offered a vast array of learning opportunities. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to attend all of the sessions that I was interested in.

This year, two sensory symposiums were devoted to the research associated with using consumer emotions to guide product development. Silvia King, Senior Principal Scientist at McCormick and Company Inc. shared her knowledge pertaining to the evaluation of consumer emotions concurrently with the assessment of consumer liking. Silvia’s research on the assessment of consumer emotions is paramount in setting the stage for the establishment of best practices in this area. Melissa Knorr, Principal Scientist at Kraft Foods shared her insights into the differentiation of food products by consumers on an emotional level. Melissa pointed out that products may achieve parity for liking, however; their emotional profiles could be quite different. Assessing these differences has provided her with valuable insight from a product development perspective.

The sensory symposium on achieving sodium reduction in the food industry was enlightening. Leslie Stein from the Monell Chemical Senses Centre presented research that suggested that the food industry should focus on salt enhancers, rather than salt replacers. Beth Roche, Global Director Sensory and Product Development at the Campbell Soup Company shared Campbell’s journey to salt reduction for a number of their product lines. She noted that the road to salt reduction hasn’t been easy and that they are still working on reformulating lower salt versions of a number of their products.

Soo-Yeun Lee, Associate Professor at the University of Illinois talked about the trends associated with salt reduction in processed foods and how they relate to the levels of fat and herbs and spices. A key finding for Soo-Yeun, was that low fat ranch dressings on the market tended to be higher in sodium than their regular fat counterpart. Unfortunately, this means that consumers trying to achieve a healthy diet by choosing low fat alternatives are penalized with higher salt levels. Learning this certainly reinforces my belief that a moderate diet consisting of a variety of foods is one of the keys to solving society’s health issues!

On that note, I had the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of different cuisine during my first visit to New Orleans. Dante’s Kitchen in the garden district was amazing! The “Chicken Roasted under a Brick” was covered in a maple glaze and was exceptionally moist. From a sensory perspective, I was particularly intrigued and delighted by the “Barq’s Root Beer Candied Sweet Potatoes”. Saturday night we ventured to Gautreau’s, to celebrate Chris’ receipt of the Sensory and Consumer Sciences Achievement Award. Gautreau’s is located on a quaint street in the heart of the garden district. I would highly recommend the Wild Mushroom and Ricotta Cannelloni which is served with lacinato kale, spicy tomato ragout and sauce Mornay. The Caramelized Banana Split was also a highlight of my meal! On our last night in New Orleans, the Compusense group ventured to GW Fins in the French Quarter. I have to say that the BBQ shrimp was the highlight of my meal, as was the wild mushroom risotto.

Overall, I had a memorable time at IFT this year and I look forward to the opportunity to attend IFT 2012 in Las Vegas!

P.S. The 9th Pangborn Sensory Science Symposium will be held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada September 4th to 8th. Hope to see you there!

 

Despite Travel Challenges, ASTM Always Proves Worthwhile

Chris

Enchiladas from Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen - Photo from www.gabbipatrick.com

ASTM is always a busy meeting. Even the smaller West Coast meetings are packed with opportunities to catch up with friends and colleagues, to get involved in lively debate and to actually learn something.

The E18 Committee on Sensory Evaluation was held in Anaheim CA on April 12th, 13th and 14th. This was the first meeting that was conducted both on-site and electronically. Members were able to join any of the scheduled sessions by Webinar and conference call. Task Group Chairs were able to attend electronically. Two sessions (Sample and Scales) in my sub-committee, E18.04, were managed remotely by Julie Boutaghou and Kanapon Lopetcharat, with a person on-site to manage the traffic. It wasn’t perfect and ASTM have been taking notes and soliciting opinions from participants in order to improve future web-based meetings. However, considering I spent most of Monday travelling to Anaheim (a rescheduled itinerary and a mechanical problem in Chicago delayed me 5 hours) to repeat the fiasco on Friday on my way back East (with an early morning mechanical problem in Anaheim causing a missed connection in Minneapolis and weather causing an unscheduled overnight and finally getting home on Saturday afternoon), it seems that bad audio and staying home is not a bad price to pay to avoid the joys of travel. Bad travel stories seem to be universal.

Back to the meeting! It’s still a great opportunity to meet people face-to-face. We had such a great meal at Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen in Old Town Orange on Wednesday night that a larger group returned on Thursday night. Fabulous food, wonderful dining companions and the swing dancing of John Ennis made it all very memorable. John’s dance ability also helped fill a break in the seminar on Thursday afternoon while Scott Orthey, our ASTM staff manager, grappled with the web technology. It’s a pity that the folks at home couldn’t see the performance. The Myth-Busting seminar had about a dozen people participating online. Even one of the presenters, Janet McLean of Diageo, who was in the UK, managed with the 9 hour time difference to answer questions after her local co-presenter, Linda Papadopoulos, gave her presentation. The use of employees as panelists was marvelously covered by Linda/Janet, Sophie Hummer of Brown-Forman and Janette Pool of Frito-Lay. In every case, they demonstrated the sensory professional’s wisdom of restricting the use of employee/panelists to specific questions and applying best sensory practice at all times. All the presenters had hard evidence gathered through parallel studies that justified their use of employees. I was impressed with the scientific rigor and with the valuable contribution these testing programs have made to their respective companies.

A bonus came in the form of the Statistics Seminar where Rob Baker, from P&G, presenting on Discrete Choice Research. Not only did Rob demystify Conjoint Analysis, he was generous enough to provide his presentation in PDF form for anyone who is an E18 member to download and digest at their leisure.

Bottom Line! Even with travel challenges, it’s well worthwhile to attend ASTM in person. I expect to see many of you in Tampa in November.

 

Compusense CEO, Dr. Chris Findlay, to receive Inaugural Sensory and Consumer Science Achievement Award

Compusense
Dr. Chris Findlay

Dr. Chris Findlay, Compusense CEO & Founder

On Friday, the Institute of Food Technologists Sensory and Consumer Sciences Division announced that Dr. Chris Findlay (Compusense founder and CEO) and Dr. Howard Schutz (Prof. Emeritus UC Davis) would be the recipients of the inaugural SCSD Achievement Award at this year’s IFT Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

This award recognizes individuals who have brought honour and recognition to the field of Sensory and Consumer Science, and have demonstrated leadership and dedication through a distinguished career. Priority is given to those who have a record of achievement which has transformational and measurable impact within the food industry.

Compusense is very proud of Chris and Howard and look forward to seeing them accept the award in New Orleans this June!

We love panelist feedback!

Compusense
Panelist responding to a line scale question

Compusense panelist responding to a questionnaire

After our consumer panel this past week, we received this very nice email from one of our newer panelists…

Dear Staff at Compusense,

I had a wonderful and very positive experience when I came to your office to do the food test this week.

Some of the reasons being, I found your staff members all to be very kind, friendly and extremely helpful!

Your location was easy to find and your office very clean, tidy and up-to-date computers made the testing much easier and faster to do. Having the presence of a staff member at the computer testing site for questions was also great customer service.

In the past I’ve attended many food test programs… and made my comments on paper rather than a computer and it took a lot more time to fill out, so hence the computers are much more efficient, faster and more accurate and efficient for everyone.

Kindly pass my comments on to encourage all your staff of the great job everyone is doing.  It is so GREAT to be part of such a successful Team when I do testing for and with you.

Thanks for your kind words! It’s great to get feedback from our panelists. If you’re a Compusense panelist and want to share your experiences with us, please post a comment  to our blog or send us an email to panelist@compusense.com.

Would you like to become a Compusense panelist? Click here to apply now!