The influence of the feel of product packaging on the perception of the oral-somatosensory texture of food

"Spicy Touch": Cross-modal associations between hand-feel touch and capsaicin-induced oral irritation

The influence of extrinsic hand-feel touch cues on consumer experiences in food and beverage consumption is well established. However, their impact on trigeminal perception, particularly the oral irritation caused by capsaicin or spicy foods, is less understood. This study aimed to determine the existence of cross-modal associations between hand-feel touch and capsaicin-induced oral irritation. This study investigated whether these potential associations were driven by the sensory contributions of the hand-feel tactile materials (measured by instrumental physical parameters) or by affective responses (evaluated through hedonic scales and the self-reported emotion questionnaire, EsSense Profile®, by consumers). In our study, 96 participants tasted a capsaicin solution while engaging with nine hand-feel tactile materials, i.e., cardboard, linen, rattan, silicone, stainless steel, sandpaper (fine), sandpaper (rough), sponge, and towel. They subsequently rated their liking and emotional responses, perceived intensity of oral irritation, and the congruency between hand-feel tactile sensation and oral irritation. Instrumental measurements characterized the surface texture of the hand-feel tactile materials, which were correlated with the collected sensory data. The results revealed that unique cross-modal associations between hand-feel touch and capsaicin-induced oral irritation. Specifically, while sandpapers demonstrated high congruence with the sensation of oral irritation, stainless steel was found to be least congruent. These associations were influenced by both the common emotional responses ("active," "aggressive," "daring," "energetic," "guilty," and "worried") evoked by the hand-feel tactile materials and the capsaicin, as well as by participants' liking for the hand-feel tactile materials and the characteristics of the surface textures. This study provides empirical evidence of the cross-modality between hand-feel tactile sensations and capsaicin-induced oral irritation, opening new avenues for future research in this area.

Roughness perception: A multisensory/crossmodal perspective

Roughness is a perceptual attribute typically associated with certain stimuli that are presented in one of the spatial senses. In auditory research, the term is typically used to describe the harsh effects that are induced by particular sound qualities (i.e., dissonance) and human/animal vocalizations (e.g., screams, distress cries). In the tactile domain, roughness is a crucial factor determining the perceptual features of a surface. The same feature can also be ascertained visually, by means of the extraction of pattern features that determine the haptic quality of surfaces, such as grain size and density. By contrast, the term roughness has rarely been applied to the description of those stimuli perceived via the chemical senses. In this review, we take a critical look at the putative meaning(s) of the term roughness, when used in both unisensory and multisensory contexts, in an attempt to answer two key questions: (1) Is the use of the term 'roughness' the same in each modality when considered individually? and (2) Do crossmodal correspondences involving roughness match distinct perceptual features or (at least on certain occasions) do they merely pick-up on an amodal property? We start by examining the use of the term in the auditory domain. Next, we summarize the ways in which the term roughness has been used in the literature on tactile and visual perception, and in the domain of olfaction and gustation. Then, we move on to the crossmodal context, reviewing the literature on the perception of roughness in the audiovisual, audiotactile, and auditory-gustatory/olfactory domains. Finally, we highlight some limitations of the reviewed literature and we outline a number of key directions for future empirical research in roughness perception.

Cross-Modal Correspondences Between Temperature and Taste Attributes

Temperature is an important characteristic of food and drink. In addition to food-intrinsic temperature (i.e., serving temperature), consumers often experience food-extrinsic temperature (e.g., physical warmth). Emerging research on cross-modal correspondence has revealed that people reliably associate temperature with other sensory features. Building on the literature on cross-modal correspondence and sensation transference theory, the present study aimed to reveal mental representations of temperature–taste correspondence and cross-modal mental representations influencing corresponding sensory/hedonic perceptions of beverages, with a focus on manipulating food-extrinsic warmth. To reveal mental representations of temperature–taste correspondence, Experiment 1 investigated whether temperature words (warm, cool) are associated with sensory/hedonic attributes (e.g., sweet, sour, salty, bitter). The results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that warm (vs. cool) was matched more with saltiness, tastiness, healthfulness, and preference (intention to buy), whereas cool (vs. warm) was matched more with sourness and freshness. Experiment 2 assessed whether cross-modal mental representations influence corresponding sensory/hedonic perceptions of beverages. The participants wore hot and cold pads and rated sensory/hedonic attributes of Japanese tea (Experiment 2a) or black coffee (Experiment 2b) before and after tasting it. The results of Experiment 2a demonstrated that physical warmth (vs. coldness) increased healthfulness and the intention to buy Japanese tea. The results of Experiment 2b did not reveal any effects of physical warmth on sensory/hedonic ratings. These findings provide evidence of taste–temperature correspondence and provide preliminary support for the influence of food-extrinsic warmth on taste attributes related to positivity.

Visual Design Cues Impacting Food Choice: A Review and Future Research Agenda

This review aims to tackle the challenge of understanding how visual design cues can affect behavioural outcomes in a food context. The review answers two key questions: (1) What are the effects of the most important visual design cues on behavioural outcomes and how can they be explained? (2) What are the research gaps in this area? We start from a comprehensive taxonomy of visual design cues delineating the most important visual design cues. Next, we evaluate the extant research based on a structured, narrative literature review on visual design cues in the food domain. We differentiate between object processed and spatially processed visual design cues in food choice contexts and show how they affect behavioural outcomes through a range of psychological processes (attention, affective-, cognitive- and motivational reactions, food perceptions and attitudes). We end with recommendations which take into account the current food store context, the state-of-art in measuring psychological processes and behavioural outcomes and the specific food-, person- and context-related moderators. This review offers guidance for research to untangle the complexity of the effect of visual design cues in a food choice context.

Edible quality of soft-boiled chicken processing with chilled carcass was better than that of hot-fresh carcass

Soft-boiled chicken is widely popular with its flavor and texture. In a traditional view, the edible quality of soft-boiled chicken producing with hot-fresh carcass (without any chilled procedure after evisceration) was better than that of chilled carcass. Hot-fresh groups with 1, 2, or 4 hr and chilled groups with 24, 48, or 60 hr were used to clarify the view in this study. The results indicated that no significant difference in hardness, springiness, cohesiveness of texture profiles and b* value of skin color was observed between each group, although the highest L* value was obtained in hot-fresh 4 hr group. Higher contents of succinic acid were found in chilled groups when compared to that of hot-fresh groups, but there was no difference in lactic acid and pH values. Lower contents of adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP), guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP), inosine and hypoxanthine, and higher inosine-5'-monophosphate (IMP) (especially for hot-fresh 1 hr) were observed in hot-fresh groups. In addition, although no difference in umami amino acids and bitter amino acid was observed between each tested group, higher amounts of Asp, Met, Ile, Leu, Tyr, and Arg were observed in chilled groups, especially for chilled 60 hr. The finding indicated that the traditional view was lack of scientific evidence, and chilled carcass was suitable for soft-boiled chicken, substituting for the hot-fresh carcass.

Neurophysiological Responses to Different Product Experiences

It is well known that the evaluation of a product from the shelf considers the simultaneous cerebral and emotional evaluation of the different qualities of the product such as its colour, the eventual images shown, and the envelope's texture (hereafter all included in the term “product experience”). However, the measurement of cerebral and emotional reactions during the interaction with food products has not been investigated in depth in specialized literature. The aim of this paper was to investigate such reactions by the EEG and the autonomic activities, as elicited by the cross-sensory interaction (sight and touch) across several different products. In addition, we investigated whether (i) the brand (Major Brand or Private Label), (ii) the familiarity (Foreign or Local Brand), and (iii) the hedonic value of products (Comfort Food or Daily Food) influenced the reaction of a group of volunteers during their interaction with the products. Results showed statistically significantly higher tendency of cerebral approach (as indexed by EEG frontal alpha asymmetry) in response to comfort food during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Furthermore, for the same index, a higher tendency of approach has been found toward foreign food products in comparison with local food products during the visual and tactile exploration phase. Finally, the same comparison performed on a different index (EEG frontal theta) showed higher mental effort during the interaction with foreign products during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Results from the present study could deepen the knowledge on the neurophysiological response to food products characterized by different nature in terms of hedonic value familiarity; moreover, they could have implications for food marketers and finally lead to further study on how people make food choices through the interactions with their commercial envelope.

Auditory and Visual Crossmodal Correspondences With Haptically Perceived Liquid Viscosity

Past research on crossmodal correspondences as they relate to tactile perception has largely been restricted to solid substances. We investigated the role of haptically explored liquid viscosity in crossmodal correspondences with visually presented luminance, saturation, roundedness, size, number and visual elevation, as well as pure-tone pitch and kiki–bouba-type letter strings. In Experiment 1, we presented two tactile and two visual or auditory stimuli simultaneously, and found significant inter-participant agreement () when pairing viscosity with luminance, saturation, roundedness, size, pitch and letter string type. To assess whether these crossmodal correspondences were relative or absolute, another 32 participants were presented, in Experiment 2, with two tactile stimuli but only one visual/auditory stimulus per trial. In this second experiment, we found that high viscosity was paired with low luminance, roundness, low saturation, and the bouba-type letter string, while low viscosity was paired with high pitch. However, the inverse associations (e.g. low viscosity with high luminance, high viscosity with low pitch) were not significant. These findings indicate that viscosity can be added to the list of dimensions that invoke crossmodal correspondences, and that the majority of crossmodal correspondences involving viscosity are absolute rather than relative, since they appear without explicit comparisons along the visual/auditory dimensions we measured.

REDUÇÃO DO TEMPO NO PROCESSO DE COZIMENTO DE MORTADELA E AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE FINAL DO PRODUTO

Resumo Em indústrias de alimentos, o processo de cozimento é um dos mais importantes para a conservação e garantia da qualidade do produto final, principalmente de mortadelas. Porém, este é um processo que necessita de elevados investimentos em equipamentos modernos, além de apresentarem gastos com energia elétrica e vapor. Neste contexto, o objetivo deste trabalho foi propor um método de cozimento das mortadelas elaboradas com carne suína e com carne de frango com tempo reduzido pelo aumento da temperatura no interior da estufa. Foram realizadas avaliações do comportamento da atividade de água (Aw), pH e textura das mortadelas ao longo da vida de prateleira. A partir dos resultados obtidos, foi possível verificar que tanto as mortadelas cozidas pelo processo atual quanto as que passaram pelo processo de cozimento em tempo reduzido não apresentaram diferenças significativas com 95% de confiança para nenhuma das características analisadas. Sendo assim, todos os tratamentos apresentaram valores próximos e podem ser considerados dentro dos padrões estabelecidos de qualidade dos produtos, tanto para a atividade de água quanto para pH e textura.

Cross-modal tactile-taste interactions in food evaluations

Detecting the taste components within a flavoured substance relies on exposing chemoreceptors within the mouth to the chemical components of ingested food. In our paper, we show that the evaluation of taste components can also be influenced by the tactile quality of the food. We first discuss how multisensory factors might influence taste, flavour and smell for both typical and atypical (synaesthetic) populations and we then present two empirical studies showing tactile-taste interactions in the general population. We asked a group of non-synaesthetic adults to evaluate the taste components of flavoured food substances, whilst we presented simultaneous cross-sensory visuo-tactile cues within the eating environment. Specifically, we presented foodstuffs between subjects that were otherwise identical but had a rough versus smooth surface, or were served on a rough versus smooth serving-plate. We found no effect of the serving-plate, but we found the rough/smoothness of the foodstuff itself significantly influenced perception: food was rated as significantly more sour if it had a rough (versus smooth) surface. In modifying taste perception via ostensibly unrelated dimensions, we demonstrate that the detection of tastes within flavours may be influenced by higher level cross-sensory cues. Finally, we suggest that the direction of our cross-sensory associations may speak to the types of hedonic mapping found both in normal multisensory integration, and in the unusual condition of synaesthesia.