Summary The taste sensitivity of an individual is influenced by many aspects such as gender, age and habits social issues such as smoking. To study what might impact an individual's taste ability, psychology students conducted an experiment on 595 non-diabetic participants. In the experiment, participants were asked to taste 8 different water-sugar solutions with different sugar contents and then indicate whether the solution contained sugar or not. As hypothesized, female participants were better able to detect sugar in the solution than male participants. Additionally, non-smokers were able to achieve a higher success rate than smokers. These results suggest that the sense of taste is affected by each individual's gender and whether they are a smoker. The Effect of Age, Gender, and Social Habits on Absolute Taste Threshold People vary in sensitivity to certain tastes based on many aspects. The sense of taste is affected by different factors such as a person's age, gender, influence, and social habits (Weiten, 2010). The influence of aging on taste perception has been studied in a large number of studies; most of these studies have shown a decrease in taste sensitivity with age (Murphy, 1979, 1986) (Rolls and Drewnowski, 1996). Additionally, social habits such as smoking are known to decrease taste perception. According to research, smokers perceive certain tastes differently than non-smokers, with the average taste threshold for bitterness being significantly higher in smokers than in non-smokers. (LH Krut, MBm Ch.B., 1961). Regarding another factor, gender affects taste sensitivity, women have been shown to be more sensitive to certain tastes than men (Weiten, 2010). Additionally, Cohen and Gitman (1959) found that men had high...... middle of paper...... in other findings. Works Cited Cohen, T. And Gitman, L. (1959) Oral co-complaints and reception taste in the elderly. J. Gerontol. Gerontology, Academic Press, San Diago, CA, Vol.1.LH Krut, MBm Ch.B. (1961). Taste peception in smokers and non-smokers. British Medical Journal, 384-386. Murphy, C. (1986) Taste and smell in older people. In Meiselmann, HL and Rivlin, RS (eds.), Clinical Measures of Taste and Smell. Macmillan, New York. Murphy, C. (1979) The effects of age on taste sensitivity. In Han, SS and Coons, DH (eds.), The Special Senses of Aging. University of Ann Arbor, Institute of Geronology, Ann Arbor, Ml.Rolls, BA and Drewnowski, A. (1996) Diet and Nutrition. In Birren, JE (ed.), Encyclopedia of Gerontology, Academic Press, San Diego, CA, Vol. 1. Weiten, W. (2010). Psychology: Themes and variations (8th ed.). Wadsworth: engaging learning.