Introduction

Thermal taster status (TTS) is determined when the tongue is cooled or warmed, whereby thermal tasters (TT) experience a taste sensation while thermal nontasters (TnT) do not. The literature suggests that TT experience greater responsiveness (higher intensity ratings) to orosensory stimuli; however, small sample sizes and differences in classification schemes between studies confound our understanding of TTS. In addition, up to 50% of individuals (nonclassifiables, NC) have been excluded from previous studies and have yet to be characterized.

Methods

Raw responses to the thermal-elicitation procedure were used to determine the TTS of the same participants using four published classification schemes, and concordance between the schemes was examined using Fleiss’ kappa. Using a large convenience sample (n = 708), we tested for differences in orosensory (ANOVA) and temperature (Mann-Whitney U) responsiveness between TT, TnT, and NC.

Results

TT are more responsive than TnT to both orosensations and temperature changes, regardless of the classification method used despite only moderate concordance between the schemes. Overall, the orosensory and temperature responsiveness of NC is intermediate to that of TT and TnT. However, the responses of NC are not homogeneous and subgroups are identified.

Conclusions

The trend of TT being more responsive to orosensory and temperature stimuli is confirmed. The responsiveness patterns of NC subgroups suggest they are misclassified TT and TnT, and can be included in future studies examining thermal tasting.

Implications

TTS is an important source of individual differences in orosensory responsiveness, and our findings inform best practices for thermal elicitation and classification.

中文翻译：

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确定热味状态的分类方案的检验和验证

介绍

当舌头被冷却或被加热时，热品尝器状态（TTS）得以确定，而热品尝器（TT）会感觉到味觉，而热非品尝者（TnT）则不会。文献表明，TT对口感刺激具有更高的反应性（强度等级更高）；然而，小样本量和研究之间分类方案的差异混淆了我们对TTS的理解。此外，多达50％的个人（无法分类的人，NC）已被排除在以前的研究之外，尚未被鉴定。

方法

使用四个公开的分类方案，使用对热引诱程序的原始响应来确定同一参与者的TTS，并使用Fleiss的kappa检查方案之间的一致性。使用大量便利样本（n  = 708），我们测试了TT，TnT和NC之间的口感（ANOVA）和温度（Mann-Whitney U）反应性差异。

结果

不管使用哪种分类方法，尽管方案之间只有适度的一致性，但TT比TnT对体感和温度变化的响应更为敏感。总体而言，NC的口感和温度响应能力介于TT和TnT的中等。但是，NC的反应不是同质的，可以识别亚组。

结论

证实了TT对口感和温度刺激更敏感的趋势。NC亚组的反应模式表明它们被错误地归类为TT和TnT，并且可以包含在以后的有关热品尝的研究中。

含义

TTS是口感反应能力个体差异的重要来源，我们的发现为热引诱和分类的最佳实践提供了依据。