Abstract
In this study, the psychological properties used to determine the weight of various food items were examined with two objectives: 1) to reveal the differences of the results in measuring weight either by eye or by hand, and 2) to clarify the standards which the subjects used for measuring the weight of the food items tested. The subjects of the study were 283 students of Simane University. The results were as follows: 1. As compared with the two methods used in the food-weight discrimination tests, the subjects performed better in the test by eye than in the one by hand. 2. The groups which the scored higher in the food-weight discrimination tests were utilizing background knowledges of general weight of these items as a standard for measuring the weight in the test. 3. These facts suggest that in order to improve the ability to determine the weight of various food items, it is more effective to accumulate weight knowledge through daily experience than simply to depend on such a weight perception method as hand measurement.
