Experiment #1
For grades 3-12
Does what you see influence what you taste? Find out here. Get four
different flavored sodas (fruity ones such as lemon, grape, cherry, etc.).
These sodas should also be different colors. Also get one unflavored, clear
soda (such as, club soda or seltzer water). Add a few drops of food
coloring to the unflavored, clear soda (orange works well). This will
make it LOOK like orange soda, but of course, it will NOT have any taste.
Pour the five drinks into different cups for taste testers. Ask people to
tell you what each drink tastes like.
How many people said your unflavored drink was
"Orange"?
Food companies add color to food to influence what it tastes like. People
like to see foods in colors that they expect.
Materials:
- 4 different flavored sodas, 1 unflavored, clear soda
- Cups
- Food Color
Experiment #2
For grades 3-12
In this experiment, use jelly beans instead of soda. For each subject you
test, you will need pairs of jelly beans. For example, get
2 cherry jelly beans, 2 lime jelly beans, 2 lemon jelly beans and 2 orange
jelly beans. Each jelly bean flavor has its own unique color: red for
cherry, green for lime, yellow for lemon and orange for orange. Divide
the jelly beans into two groups: each group should have one of each
flavor.
Label small containers or napkins with the numbers 1 through 4. Place the
jelly beans from the first group into a container or on a napkin - one
jelly bean into each container or on each napkin. Wrap the jelly
beans in the second group in foil or place them in a cup so that your
subjects cannot see them. Label these cups with the numbers 1 through
4. Make sure that the flavors of the second group have different numbers
than the flavors in the first group.
Now you are ready to start the experiment. If you want, you can tell your
subject the names of the flavors that they will be tested. In other
words, you can say, "The jelly beans you taste will be either cherry,
orange, lime or lemon." Tell your subject to look at the jelly bean in
container #1 of the first group and then taste the jelly bean. After they
have tasted the jelly bean, tell your subject to write down its flavor.
Do the same thing with jelly beans #2-#4.
The next part of the experiment is a bit more difficult. You must keep
the color of the jelly beans in group 2 hidden from your subjects. You
can blindfold your subjects or have them close their eyes while they taste
the jelly beans. Keep track of the flavors that your subjects say each
jelly bean tastes like. You can even tell your subjects that the flavors
they will taste will be the same as before.
What are the results? Did you subjects make any
mistakes when they could not see the color of the jelly bean? If they
did, what was the most common mistake? What would happen if you used an
unusual flavor? What would happen if you found a jelly bean with an
abnormal color...for example a red-colored lemon-flavor jelly bean?
Materials:
- At least 4 different flavored jelly beans (two of each flavor for
each subject)
- Cups or napkins
- Pen (to label cups and napkins)
Summary of published experiments on the influence
of sight on the taste of drinks and food.
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