## 2 Results and Discussion
### Perceptual Interactions
#### 2.2.4 The Correlation between Steven's Law and Perceptual Interactions
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Compounds**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Concentration**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Intensity a**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Iteration**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**K c**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**N d**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**RSS e**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Steven’s**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**nMeSA**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**nMeSA**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**N**} \\  & & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{MeSA} & 800 & 1.85 & & 0.007 & 0.800 & 2.153 & 1.89 & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 12.1 & & 0.031 & 0.615 & 0.562 & & - & - & - & - \\  & 6400 & 6.50 & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Linalool} & 1000 & 4.17 & & 0.904 & 0.236 & 0.861 & 4.78 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 4.1 & 1.098 & 0.213 & 0.757 & & 0.402 & 0.414 & 0.287 \\  & 16,000 & 8.40 & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Phenylacetaldehyde} & 1000 & 4.90 & & 0.462 & 0.335 & 1.285 & 4.90 & & & & \\  & 8000 & 8.67 & & 0.638 & 0.295 & 1.003 & & 0.320 & 0.455 & 0.226 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Geraniol} & 50 & 4.63 & & 1.300 & 0.400 & 0.732 & 4.47 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 1.345 & 0.307 & 0.57 & & 0.308 & 0.461 & 0.269 \\  & 400 & 8.30 & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Phenethyl alcohol} & 750 & 1.50 & & 0.193 & 0.328 & 0.245 & 1.76 & & & & \\  & 12,000 & 4.13 & & 0.237 & 0.303 & 0.222 & & 0.312 & 0.459 & 0.445 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\beta\)-Ionone} & 20 & 3.10 & & 1.762 & 0.206 & 0.159 & 3.33 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 4.1 & 1.861 & 0.194 & 0.144 & & 0.421 & 0.405 & 0.358 \\  & 320 & 5.60 & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{cis-Jasmone} & 50 & 0.87 & & 0.151 & 0.467 & 0.256 & 1.05 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 6.1 & 0.218 & 0.403 & 0.182 & & 0.212 & 0.509 & 0.693 \\  & 800 & 3.03 & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Nerol} & 800 & 1.48 & & 0.010 & 0.744 & 1.241 & 1.80 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 11.1 & & 0.032 & 0.603 & 0.595 & & 0.012 & 0.609 & 0.815 \\  & 6400 & 6.00 & & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Benzyl alcohol} & 20,000 & 1.13 & & 0.004 & 0.597 & 2.169 & 1.54 & & & & \\  & 32,0000 & 6.40 & & 0.009 & 0.519 & 0.241 & & 0.096 & 0.567 & 0.684 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\alpha\)-terpineol} & 8000 & 1.63 & & 0.000 & 0.400 & 75.945 & 1.78 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 19.1 & & 0.005 & 0.654 & 0.716 & & 0.039 & 0.635 & 0.700 \\  & 64,000 & 6.55 & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{\(\beta\)-ocimene} & 100 & 3.00 & & 0.112 & 0.650 & 4.685 & 2.81 & & & & \\  & \(\ldots\) & \(\ldots\) & 9.1 & 0.336 & 0.461 & 1.798 & & 0.154 & 0.538 & 0.785 \\ \cline{1-1}  & 800 & 6.93 & & & & & & & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Average intensity value obtained by the sensory panel member, b iteration number means major iteration and minor iteration; c initial k value and optimal k value; d initial n value and optimal n value; e RSS, residual sum of squares; f, represented the corresponding relationship for concentration, aroma intensity and Steven’s value of each compound (10 groups).  
\end{table} 
Table 3: The n value of Steven’s law and the n difference. To further verify this point, we mixed MeSA with floral compounds to obtain a binary mixture, and then regarded the mixture as a whole and calculated its value of n, which was denoted as N here. When a synergistic effect was shown, it means that after mixing, the release of aroma could be further promoted. Therefore, N must be greater than the average of n\({}_{\text{a}}\) and n\({}_{\text{b}}\) at this time. In the same way, N must be less than the average of n\({}_{\text{a}}\) and n\({}_{\text{b}}\) when a masking effect was shown, as shown in Table 3.  
Logically, the n value can represent the release speed of the aroma to a certain extent, and the R value obtained by [PERSON]'s additive model can also reflect the degree of interaction. We tried to fit it and found that when the binary compounds were mixed, the n difference had a good exponential relationship with R, and R\({}^{2}\) reached 0.914.