Food recognition by the elderly.
While blindfolded, 27 young college students and 29 elderly subjects tasted and smelled a series of unseasoned blended foods. The elderly subjects were significantly less able to identify the foods than young subjects. The elderly subjects rated the foods on adjective scales in such a way that a multidimensional scaling of these ratings yielded only one dimension, related to the hedonic aspect of the foods. The multidimensional solution for youthful subjects' ratings was two-dimensional, indicating more discrimination among foods for young subjects compared with the elderly. Significantly more elderly subjects commented on the weakness of the smell or taste of the foods.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012903:Smell; D013649:Taste; D013652:Taste Threshold