The effect of the shape of brownies on the perceived taste of subjects
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
10th Grade
Presentation Topic
Psychology and Sociology
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Abstract
There are many different senses that are used when tasting and enjoying food. The purpose of this project was to test one of these senses, sight, and to do this brownies were tested to see if the shape of the brownies affected the taste. It was hypothesized that changing the shape of brownies into an oval and star would make the brownies taste more appealing. In the experiment, students were given square, oval, and star shaped brownies to taste. They were asked to answer a survey that required the students to rank the three shapes of brownies in order from best tasting to least tasting. The square shape, or control, had an average ranking of 1.9 with a standard deviation of 0.746. The star shape had an average ranking of 2.097 with a standard deviation of 0.906. The oval shape had an average ranking of 2.032 with a standard deviation of .836. Doing a Chi Squared test with alpha being equal to 0.05 revealed that there was not a significant difference in the means, which failed to reject the null hypothesis; X^2(4, N=93)= 5.577, p>0.05. This means that there was not a significant difference in ranking of the taste of the brownies, indicating that shape does not affect the taste of brownies.
Recommended Citation
Penmetsa, Vinay V., "The effect of the shape of brownies on the perceived taste of subjects" (2015). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 262.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2015/all/262
Start Date
4-11-2015 10:00 AM
End Date
4-11-2015 10:15 AM
The effect of the shape of brownies on the perceived taste of subjects
There are many different senses that are used when tasting and enjoying food. The purpose of this project was to test one of these senses, sight, and to do this brownies were tested to see if the shape of the brownies affected the taste. It was hypothesized that changing the shape of brownies into an oval and star would make the brownies taste more appealing. In the experiment, students were given square, oval, and star shaped brownies to taste. They were asked to answer a survey that required the students to rank the three shapes of brownies in order from best tasting to least tasting. The square shape, or control, had an average ranking of 1.9 with a standard deviation of 0.746. The star shape had an average ranking of 2.097 with a standard deviation of 0.906. The oval shape had an average ranking of 2.032 with a standard deviation of .836. Doing a Chi Squared test with alpha being equal to 0.05 revealed that there was not a significant difference in the means, which failed to reject the null hypothesis; X^2(4, N=93)= 5.577, p>0.05. This means that there was not a significant difference in ranking of the taste of the brownies, indicating that shape does not affect the taste of brownies.
