On the consistency of liking scores: insights from a study including 917 consumers from 10 to 80 years old

Preference for 7 orange juices was recorded monadically. Three of the samples were replicates of the same juice (RJ). The 4 other samples were RJ slightly spiked with either sucrose, or citric acid, or quinine or an orange flavor. Each subject then performed a paired preference test composed of RJ and the modified juice whose score was the furthest from the RJ score. Finally, subjects were asked to choose one among 8 reasons why they preferred that sample. A number of individual statistics were computed in order to compare the consistency of liking scores within session, across ages and between genders. Women were slightly more consistent than men. However, no significant effect of age nor gender was found in the coherence between the first hedonic test and the paired preference test. Moreover, children and seniors found it more difficult than other consumers to identify the reason for their preference.