LAUSR

18 Sensations such as bitterness and astringency can limit the acceptance of many purportedly 19 healthy foods. The purpose of this study was to investigate dose-response relationships of 20 various astringent and bitter stimuli in a beverage, and to simultaneously gain additional 21 methodological insight for the effects of wording, repeated tasting, and beverage matrix on these 22 sensations. Untrained participants were presented with samples of a “flavored beverage” or water 23 containing various concentrations of four stimuli (alum, malic acid, tannic acid, and quinine) and 24 were asked to rate intensities of tastes (bitterness, sourness, and sweetness) and astringency sub25 qualities (roughing, drying, and constricting or puckering) using a generalized visual analog 26 scale. Using constricting in place of puckering had no effect on ratings. The effects of repeated 27 tasting and beverage matrix on astringency perception were stimulus-dependent. This study 28 informs future investigations to understand the psychophysics of tastes and astringency. 29 30 Practical Applications 31 This study provides stimulusand quality-specific data to improve astringency research. 32 Furthermore, dose response functions will aid researchers when selecting appropriate 33 concentrations of astringent stimuli. We also provide recommendations for a variety of testing 34 contexts, such as beverage matrix and the number of samples, to optimize the design of 35 astringency studies, especially for naïve participants. This study further demonstrates how 36 affective responses influence evaluation of astringent samples among untrained participants. 37 38 39