Fat Versus Nonfat Behavioral Science Project

The following fat versus nonfat behavioral science project experiment is meant to give you ideas on how to perform experiments and arrange your project. Use this behavioral science project to come up with ideas for your own experiments.

Behavioral Science Project - Can you tell nonfat foods from fatty foods?

This fat versus nonfat behavioral science project experiment determines if people can distinguish nonfat foods from foods containing fat.

Background:

Research information about taste perception, fats, and fat substitutes. Answer the following questions: What are fats? Do we need dietary fat? If so, why and how much? How does your body metabolize fats? Does fat have a specific flavor? Can we taste the fats that are contained in the foods we eat?

Hypothesis:

From your research you should have an idea about what fat is and if it can be tasted in food. From this you will predict if people can tell the difference between nonfat foods and foods that contain fat.

Materials: (Adult supervision of kids is always recommended.)
    

2 small boxes of chocolate pudding mix	Salt
Non-fat dry milk powder	2 medium bowls
Whole fat dry milk powder (Nestle Nido brand - available at Walmart)	1 small bowl
Unsweetened cocoa	2 muffin pans (12 muffins per pan)
Granulated sugar	Paper liners for muffin pan
Self-rising flour	Toothpicks
Vanilla extract	Index cards
Applesauce	Marker
Baking soda	A number of human participants. The larger the sample the better.
Eggs

Procedure:

1. Gather materials needed for your fat versus nonfat behavioral science project experiment. Make sure your participants are not allergic to any of the ingredients.

2. Follow the directions for making the nonfat cupcakes. Kids should have parental supervision when cooking!

3. Once your cupcakes are done, label an index card with the number 1 and place the nonfat cupcakes in that group.

4. If using the same utensils and bowls to make the cupcakes with fat, make sure to clean these materials thoroughly before you begin.

5. For the cupcakes with fat, follow the directions substituting whole fat dry milk powder for the nonfat dry milk powder. Also, substitute egg yolks for the egg whites.

6. Once your cupcakes are done, label another index card with the number 2 and place the cupcakes with fat in that group.

7. Without identifying which cupcakes contain fat and which do not, ask your first participant to bite and taste a cupcake from group 1.

8. Ask your participant to drink a little water.

9. Now ask your participant to take a bite of another cupcake, this time from group 2.

10. Ask your participant to tell you which cupcake contained fat and which did not.

11. Record your participant's answer.

12. Repeat steps 7-11 for the rest of your participants.

Results:

Compare your results. Describe what you observed. Was anyone able to correctly identify which cupcake contained fat and which did not? If so, how many? Were there any differences between the participants in age, gender, etc.? Were there any patterns that you noticed from your experiment? Was a particular group able to correctly distinguish between the two types of cupcakes more often (ex. males or females, younger or older)? Graph and chart your data.

Conclusion:

Summarize what happened in your fat versus nonfat behavioral science project experiment based on your results. Explain patterns in your data. Did your data support your hypothesis? If not, explain why. Evaluate your project and make suggestions for improvements.

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