Question

Bryce volunteered to participate in a taste test for a new soup. The testers want to know when the participants notice a reduction in salt in the soup. After Bryce tastes several bowls of soup he notices that the last bowl has less salt than the others. Bryce's detection of the change in salt content is an example of detecting the:

Answer 1

Bryce detected a Just-Noticeable Difference in the salt content of soup, illustrating how humans perceive changes in taste stimuli via the sensory system, specifically the gustatory cells that detect sodium ions.

Step-by-step explanation:

Bryce's detection of the change in salt content in the soup is an example of detecting a Just-Noticeable Difference (JND), which refers to the smallest change in a sensory stimulus that can be detected. This concept is a key principle in our understanding of the sensory system, which includes our ability to detect changes in taste, such as the saltiness of soup. The salty taste is attributed to the perception of sodium ions (Na+) in saliva, and a change in salt concentration can alter the sensorial experience by inducing depolarization and generation of a receptor potential in the gustatory cells responsible for the perception of taste.

The ability to detect a reduction in salt aligns with the evolutionary significance of tasting, as saltiness is one of the primary tastes the tongue can detect, suggesting an evolutionary link between ingesting salt and survival. However, there is concern that modern diets may contain too much salt, exceeding the necessary amount for proper bodily function. Bryce's experience in the test also illustrates the role of the scientific method in sensory experiments, where variables such as salt content are systematically altered to investigate human sensibility to taste differences.

Answer 2

difference threshold.

Step-by-step explanation:

Difference threshold can be described or explained as the minimum amount that something needs to change or difference between two stimuli which can be consistently and as well as accurately detected exactly at the middle of the trial, i.e at 50% of the trial.

Difference threshold help us to understand why people is able to sense or detect and not able to sense the taste or progress of something.

In this case, Bryce was able to sense that the last soup contain less salt because there has been a difference threshold, where he was unable to sense the level of the taste of the salt again.