Consistency of sensory testing with 4-and 5-year-old children

Rank-order and paired comparison tests are widely used methods to assess sensory perception of young children. Small age differences could, however, influence the ability of children to carry out such tasks. This study compared rank-order and paired comparison tests for consistency in 4- and 5-year-old children. During four sessions, 22 young adults, 21 4-year-old and 47 5-year-old children carried out rank-order and paired comparison tests to measure discriminatory ability (0.22 M, 0.25 M, 0.29 M, 0.34 M, 0.39 M sucrose in orangeade) and preference (0.14 M, 0.20 M, 0.29 M, 0.42 M, 0.61 M sucrose in orangeade). Young adults and 5-year-old children were able to discriminate between all solutions and showed a high consistency between the rank-order and pairwise tests for discriminatory ability (>76% consistency) and preference (>71% consistency). In contrast, 4-year-olds detected differences in sweetness during the preference tests, but failed to distinguish sweetness intensities during the discriminatory ability tests. It is concluded that the dissimilarity between 4-and 5-year-olds in performing sensory tests was due to a difference in their cognitive skills rather than their sensory perceptual differences. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.