Sensory science is the study of the senses and sensory perception.
Sensory analysis requires panels of human assessors to describe a product's appearance, smell, taste, texture and sound.
And, obviously, it has its own vocabulary (see ISO 5492 Vocabulary).
Sensory analysis can be split in three sub-sections:
1) Effective testing (objective facts about products)
2) Affective testing (subjective facts such as preferences)
3) Perception (the biochemical and psychological aspects of sensation)
Whew, sounds complicated! And what is the purpose of this analysis?
It has many applications: improving products, making them more attractive, reducing production costs by avoiding unnecessarily expensive ingredients, etc. Read the following article for a surprising example.
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