Abstract:

Based on the cooling descriptors established by a special sensory panel and the analysis of scaling results for
reference samples with different cooling intensities, the linear scale method was adopt to establish a 15-cm labeled line scale
consistent with Fechner’s law. The concentrations of reference samples were 4.00, 7.60, 12.00, 15.00 and 20.00 g/L menthol
aqueous solutions and the labeled values in the 15-cm line scale were 2.50 cm (slight cooling), 5.00 cm (a bit cooling),
7.50 cm (moderate cooling), 11.00 cm (strong cooling) and 13.00 cm (extreme cooling), respectively. Moreover, the time
intensity method was also used to explore the dynamic sensory change of reference samples. The maximum intensity (Imax),
duration time (Ttot) and the area under the time-intensity curve (AUC) were obtained though statistical analysis of the timeintensity
curve established based on sensory panel data. The results showed that the relationship between these time-intensity
curve parameters and the concentrations of reference samples was positively correlated. Meanwhile, the effect of dynamic
sensory change on the overall intensity (Ioverall) was also studied and it was confirmed that Imax played the most important role
in scaling the overall intensity of reference samples. This paper not only has presented a powerful method for quantitative
sensory evaluation of cooling intensity, but also has provided a creative idea for multi-dimension sensory evaluation of
cooling and other trigeminal sensations.

Key words: cooling sensation, intensity reference, scale, time-intensity, dynamic change