This morning after a fast-paced introduction to supernova neutrino theory (and an admittedly rather optimistic plan for studying neutrino oscillations), a discussion broke out at lunch break about soft drinks. Challenge and response; and a modified "Pepsi challenge" ensued. Greg prepared 8 cups of random beverage (he rejected my suggestion to mix a few) and those who claimed to be able to tell the difference poured samples, and guessed. 4/8, 4/8 and 3/8 correct. Heh.
A rematch at 4:00 attracted more grad students and some secretaries, and we histogrammed the results, which turned out to be surprisingly flat, suggesting that perhaps two distributions were represented: those who could tell the difference but weren't always calibrated correctly, and those who couldn't tell the difference. (A secretary scored 8/8 and a grad student 1/8.) A large group said that you could tell the difference for the first swig, but after that your taste buds were a little shocked by the acid and one was like the other.
Doesn't your office spend free time analyzing experiments?
You can really torque people off with blind taste tests for wine. Only 25% of Frenchman can tell good from bad. Interestingly, though, there is that 25% - it's not a different 1 in 4 each time.
ReplyDeleteYes, some people have either born or trained palettes. Everything tastes like chicken: but with subtle shadings that I sometimes almost think I can remember.
ReplyDelete(Mark kept complaining that the test should have had reference samples.)