2008 Science Fair

SUPERTASTERS
by Danya C.

Honorable Mention

Question

Will age or gender affect learning the flavors of Starburst candy using just taste?

Hypothesis

Children (under 18) will perform better than adults (18 years and older), and there will be no difference in gender for learning the flavors of Starburst candy using just taste.

Abstract

To test this hypothesis, subjects were divided into four groups of three subjects which include female, under 18 years old, male, under 18 years old, female, 18 years old and over, male 18 years old and over. There was also 1 control group of 3 subjects of random age and gender. The subjects were blindfolded and unable to smell by pinching the nose closed using two fingers.

The tester gave the subject three random flavors of Starburst candy that had been  unwrapped.The subject ate one candy and stated the flavor. The tester recorded the stated flavor and the actual flavor. A sip of water was given to cleanse lhe mouth before the next trial. This was repeated with two more Starburst candies. The tester then told the correct flavors of Starburst candy to the subject to help them learn the flavors. For the post-test, the tester gave the subject the same three flavors again, but in a random order. The subjects repeated the steps above to guess the flavors of the three candies. The control group repeated the entire procedure four times. The control was testing if practice affected learning rather than age and gender.

The results from the expenment did not fully support the hypothesis. The results showed that males performed better (more correct guesses) than females. Males had 12, females had 9, and the control group had 6 correct guesses in the post-test. The results showed that children performed better than adults. Children had 12, adults had 9, and the control group had 6 correct
guesses in the post-test. The guesses by gender in each age group showed that the females performed better in the below 18 group and that males performed better in the 18 and older group. The guesses by ages in each gender group showed that adult males performed slightly better than children males (7 versus 5 correct guesses), and children females performed much better than adult females (7 versus 2 correct guesses).

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