The impact of evoked consumption contexts and appropriateness on emotion responses

Emotional response to sherry wines and its relationship with emotional intelligence, level of expertise and gender

Emotional elicitation during wine consumption is a complex fenomena based on subjective experience and influence by physiological, cognitive and behavioural changes. The present study used a quasi-experimental design to examine consumers' emotional responses during blind tastings of sherry wines, considering variables such as consumer experience, gender and Emotional Intelligence (EI). 66 participants were classified as non-expert (34) and expert (32) consumers to participate in blind tastings. Their emotional responses were measured using the EsSense25 Scale and the Perceived Emotional Intelligence was assessed through the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. Few differences were observed on emotional elicitation based on gender or consumer experience (non-expert vs expert), however the interaction of these variables was a good predictor of emotional response variance. Wine type also has an effect on emotional response, emphasising the role of sherry wine characteristics in consumer emotions. Furthermore, the Emotional Attention, one of the three dimensions of Emotional Intelligence, was found as a good predictor for the emotional responses to wine consumption. This relationship may be a key factor in understanding the differences between responsible consumption and excessive consumption, as indicated by research focused on binge drinking.

Sensory Analysis and Consumer Preference: Best Practices

Sensory science is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses a wide variety of established and newly developed tests to document human responses to stimuli. Sensory tests are not limited to the area of food science but they find wide application within the diverse areas of the food science arena. Sensory tests can be divided into two basic groups: analytical tests and affective tests. Analytical tests are generally product-focused, and affective tests are generally consumer-focused. Selection of the appropriate test is critical for actionable results. This review addresses an overview of sensory tests and best practices.

Emotional responses to taste and smell stimuli: Self-reports, physiological measures, and a potential role for individual and genetic factors

Taste and olfaction elicit conscious feelings by direct connection with the neural circuits of emotions that affects physiological responses in the body (e.g., heart rate and skin conductance). While sensory attributes are strong determinants of food liking, other factors such as emotional reactions to foods may be better predictors of consumer choices even for products that are equally-liked. Thus, important insights can be gained for understanding the full spectrum of emotional reactions to foods that inform the activities of product developers and marketers, eating psychologist and nutritionists, and policy makers. Today, self-reported questionnaires and physiological measures are the most common tools applied to study variations in emotional perception. The present review discusses these methodological approaches, underlining their different strengths and weaknesses. We also discuss a small, emerging literature suggesting that individual differences and genetic variations in taste and smell perception, like the genetic ability to perceive the bitter compound PROP, may also play a role in emotional reactions to aromas and foods.

The Influence of Consumption Context on Indulgent Versus Healthy Yoghurts: Exploring the Relationship between the Associated Emotions and the Actual Choices

This work examines the associated emotions of consumers transmitted from extrinsic attributes (fat-related nutrition claims (full-fat, low-fat, and fat-free) and ingredient features (plain, berries, and double chocolate chunk)) labelled on yoghurt packages. It differentiates by consumption context (health versus indulgent) at the time of the survey and studies the relationship between the associated emotions (e.g., positive versus negative) attached to extrinsic attributes and the actual choices. The research was conducted in the Netherlands in 2019, with 209 regular consumers of yoghurt. Participants were divided into two treatments according to each consumption context and a control group (no context); they were instructed to imagine purchasing yoghurt to consume it as a healthy snack or as a dessert or received no instructions. After choosing their preferred option from a discrete choice experiment, participants indicated how the choice made them feel from a list of emotions. The results revealed significant differences between positive emotional profiles for choosing healthy (low-fat) yoghurts with berries and negative profiles for choosing less healthy alternatives (full-fat) with double chocolate chunk sensory features. The findings from a random parameter logit model showed that participants who continuously chose the same type of yoghurt in all choice tasks selected mostly positive rather than negative emotions. The overall findings suggest that the associated emotions affect yoghurt choices. However, the emotions were mainly affected by the consumption context.

Investigating the relative merits of using a mixed reality context for measuring affective response and predicting tea break snack choice

Sensory evaluation for the investigation of food consumption is often conducted in a controlled laboratory environment, which does not reflect consumption behaviour in real world. Here, we compared the effect of consumption setting (traditional sensory booth, mixed reality projection café, and a café) on consumer affective responses, and to investigate the effectiveness of using Microsoft HoloLens technology, an Augmented Mixed Reality device, as an ecologically valid alternative to natural consumption eating for sensory evaluation. Participant [(n = 120): 86 females/34 males, aged 18-65 years] affective response (overall liking, attribute liking, emotional response, and snack choice) towards two commercially available tea break snacks (caramel slice and chocolate digestive biscuit) was assessed in three different consumption settings using a balanced crossover design. There were no significant differences for most affective ratings between data obtained from the HoloLens evoked café and real café (p ≥ 0.10), suggesting that mixed reality could provide an ecologically valid context for consumer research. However, response differences were observed between these two contexts and the sensory booths. For example, interested, joy, enthusiastic emotion terms were rated slightly higher in the evoked café in comparison to the booth context and slightly higher emotional engagement was observed for joy in the café compared to the booths (all p < .10). This study highlights key considerations for deciding where consumer testing should be conducted and the importance of using a combination of overall liking, attribute liking and emotional response to obtain data representative of real-world environments in consumer studies.

A narrative review of the impact of digital immersive technology on affective and sensory responses during product testing in digital eating contexts

The environments and/or contexts typically used to determine consumer affective and sensory responses have been questioned for their ecological validity. However, conducting consumer testing in real-life scenarios is costly, logistically complex, and hard to standardise between participants due to a lack of control over external cues and product preparation. Immersive environments, representative of product consumption contexts, may provide more ecologically valid data. Recently, digital immersion technologies have been proposed to contextualise consumer studies whilst maintaining experimental control. This narrative review summarised published consumer studies including digital immersion in addition to traditional sensory booths and/or a real-life immersive contexts in their study design, to measure the impact of these contexts on liking, emotional response and intensity of sensory attributes. The findings suggest that emotional response ratings are more comparable to real-life, and that consumer engagement and reliability increases, when testing is conducted using digital immersive techniques compared to traditional sensory booths. Therefore, digital immersive techniques look promising to improve ecological validity of consumer testing, but further development and research is required.

Going beyond sensory and hedonic aspects: A Brazilian study of emotions evoked by beef in different contexts

For deeper insight into beef consumer experiences during consumption, sensory descriptions seem to be insufficient, and exploration of emotions evoked by this product are required. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the emotions evoked by beef consumption in different contexts. To that end, this work was structured as follows: 1) Emotional vocabulary development; 2) Selection of beef cuts; and 3) Emotional profiling of beef cuts. The emotional vocabulary was useful for characterizing emotions evoked by two beef cuts with different sensory profiles, in different contexts, considering a within-subjects design. Rump cap samples showed the highest liking and were associated with positive emotions, while outside flat samples were less liked and characterized by negative emotions. The evoked context had no effect on hedonic and emotional intensities, but increased the number of emotions elicited by consumers. The correlation of sensory, hedonic and emotional information indicated that tenderness and internal color of beef were correlated with positive emotions and higher liking scores.

Exploring the Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality Environments on Sensory Perception of Beef Steaks and Chocolate

Virtual reality (VR) technology is emerging as a tool for simulating different eating environments to better understand consumer sensory response to food. This research explored the impact of different environmental contexts on participants' hedonic ratings of two different food products: beef steaks, and milk chocolate, using VR as the context-enhancing technology. Two separate studies were conducted. For beef, two different contextual conditions were compared: traditional sensory booths and a VR restaurant. For chocolate, data were generated under three different contextual conditions: traditional sensory booths, VR Irish countryside; VR busy city (Dublin, Ireland). All VR experiences were 360-degree video based. Consumer level of engagement in the different contextual settings was also investigated. The results showed that VR had a significant effect on participants' hedonic responses to the food products. Beef was rated significantly higher in terms of liking for all sensory attributes when consumed in the VR restaurant. While for chocolate, the VR countryside context generated significantly higher hedonic scores for flavour and overall liking in comparison to the sensory booth. Taken together, both studies demonstrate how specific contextual settings can impact participants' sensory response to food products, when compared to a traditional sensory laboratory condition.

Cross-cultural emotional response to food stimuli: Influence of consumption context

Emotional responses elicited by certain types of food can be influenced by past experiences, frequency of consumption, culture, and other personal preferences. The present research aimed i) to investigate the impact of culture (Brazilian and Spaniard) on consumers' emotional responses and acceptability of different food stimuli, and ii) to explore the influence of evoked contexts. Brazilian (n = 437) and Spanish (n = 397) participants were exposed to three visual food stimuli (image of chocolate, potato chips, and yogurt) in an online survey and reported their emotional responses. Sociodemographic data, liking, and frequency of consumption were also collected. The evoked context in our study were designed and proposed, for each product and culture, based on four dimensions (consumption time, location, social setting, and hungry state). The evoked emotional lexicon was different for each food stimulus and was clearly influenced by the cultural factor. However, there are more similarities between cultures when evaluating the same product category. The evoked contexts were appropriated and influenced the citing frequency of some emotion terms, including positive ones. The most cited emotion terms tended to positively impact product liking ratings, acting as drivers of liking. Consumption level was positively related to liking regardless of cultural interactions for both chocolate and potato chips stimuli. In conclusion, the cultural background demonstrated to be an important impact factor to be considered for understanding the effects of product, consumption occasions, and degree of liking, on emotional responses to foods. These findings offer new possibilities to be explored in marketing messages for interventions or stimuli that guide food choices.

Virtual Terroir and the Premium Coffee Experience

With its origin-centric value proposition, the specialty coffee industry seeks to educate consumers about the value of the origin of coffee and how the relationship with farmers ensures quality and makes coffee a premium product. While the industry has widely used stories and visual cues to communicate this added value, research studying whether and how these efforts influence consumers' experiences is scarce. Through three experiments, we explored the effect of images that evoke the terroir of coffee on the perception of premiumness. Our results revealed that online images that resembled the broad origin of coffee (i.e., a farm) could influence premiumness expectations of coffee (Experiment 1). Similarly, a virtual reality environment that depicted this broad origin (vs. a control but not a city atmosphere) could enhance the perception of coffee premiumness for non-expert consumers (Experiment 2) and the enjoyment of the experience for coffee professionals (Experiment 3). Importantly, we found that congruence between the coffee and the virtual reality (VR) atmospheres mediated how much non-experts enjoyed the experience (Experiment 2). VR atmospheres also influenced expectations of sweetness and acidity for non-experts (Experiment 2). These findings serve as a steppingstone for further exploration of the effects of congruence between visual cues and product/brand attributes on premiumness expectations and perception, and more generally on consumer experience. From a practical standpoint, this study provides insights into key aspects for the development of immersive virtual product experiences.

Emotions Evoked by Colors and Health Functionality Information of Colored Rice: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study aimed to examine the emotional responses evoked by cooked colored rice and its health functionality information in both consumers who eat rice as a staple food and consumers who do not eat rice as a staple food. Specifically, Korean and American consumers were exposed to colored rice and its health functionality information and an emotion lexicon was generated and measured based on focus group interviews (FGI) and two online consumer surveys. In test 1, the emotions evoked by presentation of stimuli to Koreans (N = 10) and Americans (N = 10) were extracted through FGIs and the first online consumer survey (Koreans = 69; Americans = 68) and an emotion lexicon was generated. As a result, a total of 34 terms were confirmed. Test 2 was conducted during the second online consumer survey (capturing data from a total of 208 Koreans and 208 Americans), utilizing the terms generated in test 1. In this test, only the colors (CO) of colored rice were presented to one group, while colors and health functionality information (CO&H) were presented to the other group. The overall liking for stimuli in both countries was highly correlated with familiarity. Koreans showed significantly more familiarity and liking for CO of white and black CO rice, while Americans showed significantly more familiarity and liking for CO of white and yellow rice. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to categorize the emotion terms, and the emotion terms were sorted into the three clusters, “Positive”, “Negative”, and “New”, for both countries. Under informed conditions, the emotions became more positive, and emotions in the “New” cluster were evoked in both countries. The current study employed a cross-cultural approach to assess consumers’ emotional responses to colored rice and health functionality information. Our findings suggest that providing foods with preferred colors for each culture and providing sufficient information on the said foods will help to promote unfamiliar foods.

The effects of contexts on consumer emotions and acceptance of a domestic food and an unfamiliar ethnic food: a cross-cultural comparison between Chinese and Korean consumers

Contexts are known to affect hedonic and emotional responses to various food products. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of context on consumer acceptance and emotion of a domestic food and an unfamiliar ethnic food. Here, 97 Chinese and 83 Koreans rated hedonic and emotional responses to Korean shallot-seafood pancake (Haemul-pajeon) and Chinese shallot pancake (Cōngyóubĭng), in a sensory or ethnic context. Context did not significantly influence liking, but the Koreans' liking for Cōngyóubĭng significantly decreased in ethnic context compared to sensory context. Context significantly influenced eliciting positive emotions to domestic foods, whereas the context that increased positive emotions differed by the nationality of the panel. Ethnic food evaluated in ethnic context elicited emotions with negative valence or high arousal, whereas actual tasting significantly reduced these emotions. The results suggest that previous experiences and associations moderate the effect of context on emotions and acceptance.

Factors affecting flavor perception in space: Does the spacecraft environment influence food intake by astronauts?

The intention to send a crewed mission to Mars involves a huge amount of planning to ensure a safe and successful mission. Providing adequate amounts of food for the crew is a major task, but 20 years of feeding astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have resulted in a good knowledge base. A crucial observation from the ISS is that astronauts typically consume only 80% of their daily calorie requirements when in space. This is despite daily exercise regimes that keep energy usage at very similar levels to those found on Earth. This calorie deficit seems to have little effect on astronauts who spend up to 12 months on the ISS, but given that a mission to Mars would take 30 to 36 months to complete, there is concern that a calorie deficit over this period may lead to adverse effects in crew members. The key question is why astronauts undereat when they have a supply of food designed to fully deliver their nutritional needs. This review focuses on evidence from astronauts that foods taste different in space, compared to on Earth. The underlying hypothesis is that conditions in space may change the perceived flavor of the food, and this flavor change may, in turn, lead to underconsumption by astronauts. The key areas investigated in this review for their potential impact on food intake are the effects of food shelf life, physiological changes, noise, air and water quality on the perception of food flavor, as well as the link between food flavor and food intake.

Effect of Substitution of Rice Flour with Quinoa Flour on the Chemical-Physical, Nutritional, Volatile and Sensory Parameters of Gluten-Free Ladyfinger Biscuits

The present study investigates the effect of partial or total substitution of rice flour (RF) with quinoa flour (QF) (at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) on the chemical-physical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics, as well as the volatile compounds, of ladyfinger biscuits. All quinoa-based formulations positively affected the crust colour, endowing it with lower ‘lightness’ and higher ‘redness’ values, giving the biscuits a more appealing crust colour. Biscuits with higher percentages of QF also had better structure, as they were softer. The substitution of RF with QF significantly improved the nutritional profile of the biscuits, as a result of the increase in protein, lipid, ash, total soluble (SP) and insoluble polyphenol (IP), flavonoid, and antioxidant activity levels, which increased linearly with the substitution rate. Quinoa supplementation led to an increase in volatile compounds that were nearly always characterised by positive olfactory attributes. Sensory analysis revealed that the maximal substitution rate of QF able to maintain an adequate consumer acceptability rating is probably 50%, as higher percentages impaired acceptability due to the presence of herbaceous and bitter tastes, even if the consumers also rated these samples as healthier and softer to touch.

Effects of Context and Virtual Reality Environments on the Wine Tasting Experience, Acceptability, and Emotional Responses of Consumers

Wine tasting is a multidimensional experience that includes contextual information from tasting environments. Formal sensory tastings are limited by the use of booths that lack ecological validity and engagement. Virtual reality (VR) can overcome this limitation by simulating different environmental contexts. Perception, sensory acceptability, and emotional responses of a Cabernet Sauvignon wine under traditional sensory booths, contextual environments, and VR simulations were evaluated and compared. Participants (N = 53) performed evaluations under five conditions: (1) traditional booths, (2) bright-restaurant (real environment with bright lights), (3) dark-restaurant (real environment with dimly lit candles), (4) bright-VR (VR restaurant with bright lights), and (5) dark-VR (VR restaurant with dimly lit candles). Participants rated the acceptability of aroma, sweetness, acidity, astringency, mouthfeel, aftertaste, and overall liking (9-point hedonic scale), and intensities of sweetness, acidity, and astringency (15-point unstructured line-scale). Results showed that context (booths, real, or VR) affected the perception of the wine’s floral aroma (dark-VR = 8.6 vs. booths = 7.5). Liking of the sensory attributes did not change under different environmental conditions. Emotional responses under bright-VR were associated with “free”, “glad”, and “enthusiastic”; however, under traditional booths, they were related to “polite” and “secure”. “Nostalgic” and “daring” were associated with dark-VR. VR can be used to understand contextual effects on consumer perceptions.

Global Profile: Going beyond liking to better understand product experience

Over the last few years, interest in collecting an increasing variety of information in order to acquire a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the consumer experience with products has steadily grown. The present study was designed to develop a methodological approach to explore the Global Profile of products within a category. A product-specific questionnaire was developed using one-on-one online interviews conducted with a modified version of the Repertory Grid Method (RGM) combined with semiotic analysis, EmoSemio, extended to cover all the main dimensions of product experience of the category of processed tomato. A 96 item questionnaire - including liking, sensory properties, emotions, emotional and functional conceptualisations and contextual appropriateness measures - was developed and employed in a home use test with 196 consumers who evaluated 9 products (one per day). All the statements were found to discriminate between products with the exception of one. A Multiple Factor Analysis showed that emotions were highly correlated with functional/emotional conceptualisations, while sensory properties were mainly related to emotional conceptualisations (memories) and uses in the recipes. The information provided by the simultaneous collection of these different dimensions allows to go beyond liking and may be used in product development and innovation in order to better understand the consumer experience of a product.

Reprint of "Capturing consumer perception of vegetable freshness in a simulated real-life taste situation"

Consumer testing in re-created purchase or consumption contexts may produce results with a higher external validity than laboratory testing and be a valid alternative to consumer testing in real-life contexts. Hence, the present study evaluates the utility of a novel immersive approach in sensory consumer testing. An immersive multisensory room was designed to reproduce consumption conditions close to real life, with large wall screen projections, audio and olfactory stimuli and furniture consistent with the video scenario. Overall liking and perceived freshness of two vegetable products (salad tomato and wild rocket) at different storage time were evaluated by a group of volunteers, regular consumers of the products. Evaluations were performed both in a immersive environment setting - the scenario was the dining room of a holiday farm overlooking a patio and the countryside - and in a traditional sensory lab setting, as a control. The magnitude of liking was higher when evaluations were performed in the immersive environment setting than in the traditional lab setting. However, the discrimination efficacy for freshness and liking of stored and un-stored vegetables was reduced in the immersive environment with respect to the control lab. Additional research, aimed at exploring other products and other consumption or purchase immersive scenarios, will further clarify whether these findings are product-dependent or determined by the contingent immersive situation.

Completion task to uncover consumer's perception: a case study using distinct types of hen's eggs

The choice and consumption of eggs are made considering a consumers' multidimensional perception, and their understanding becomes essential to the production targeting and the products' success in the market. In this context, this work aimed to verify the consumers' perception about the distinct types of hens' eggs, using a projective technique of completion task combined with presentation of images. A hundred consumers (n = 100) evaluated the main factors, both positive and negative, involved at the purchase time of eggs besides estimating their price. Between the positive factors that guide the eggs' consumption and purchase, the category with highest mention of terms was "Health," whereas negatively it was highlighted the category "Price." Concerning the perception of price, the results showed that the factory farm white eggs' value was the one that least differed from the average market price, possibly due to the nearness and familiarity with this variety. The methodology of completion task combined with presentation of images proved as being a practical and efficient tool to capture the consumers' perception of eggs, capable of providing valuable information to the ones involved in the production chain and commercialization of these products.

Dynamic Context Sensory Testing-A Proof of Concept Study Bringing Virtual Reality to the Sensory Booth

Eating is a multimodal experience. When we eat, we perceive not just the taste and aroma of foods, but also their visual, auditory, and tactile properties, as well as sensory input from our surroundings. Foods are commonly tested within a sensory booth, designed specifically to limit such input. Foods are not commonly experienced in such isolation, but alongside this context, which can alter how a food is perceived. In this study, we show that the sensory properties of food can be altered by changing the environment it is consumed in, using virtual reality (VR) to provide an immersive, dynamic context to the eating experience. The purpose of this project was to develop an affordable and easy-to-implement methodology for adapting VR technology to sensory evaluation, without prohibitive amounts of expensive equipment or specialized programming knowledge. Virtual environments were formed by processing custom-recorded 360 degree videos and overlaying audio, text, sensory scales, and images to simulate a typical sensory evaluation ballot within the VR headset. In a pilot test, participants were asked to taste 3 identical blue cheese samples in 3 virtual contexts-a sensory booth, a park bench, and a cow barn. Respondents rated their liking of the sample, as well as its saltiness, and pungency, attributes either reflective of one context (pungency in the barn), or presumably unrelated (saltiness). Panelists duly rated the sample's flavor as being more pungent when consumed in the barn context. These results provide proof of concept for VR in applied sensory studies, providing an immersive context to a sensory test while remaining in place.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

We consume foods in environments that can "spill over" into our perceptions of the food. Thus, we consider some foods "unsuitable" for certain settings, with others deemed more suitable for this locale. This has been studied for many years as sensory "context," with written descriptions, pictures, or videos of such contexts. We present a method generating virtual reality contexts without any specist programming knowledge, for a few hundred dollars. In an accompanying pilot test, perception of a sample was significantly influenced by the VR context in which it was delivered.

A comparison of two low-calorie sweeteners and sugar in dark chocolate on sensory attributes and emotional conceptualisations

Reducing sugar consumption is an important aspect in the prevention of and fight against obesity. A broader understanding of consumers' perceptions of low-calorie sweeteners is needed. This study examined two low-calorie sweeteners, tagatose and stevia, in comparison to sugar in dark chocolate. A total of 219 consumers participated in this study and rated overall liking and sensory attributes. Participants also listed their emotional conceptualisations upon consumption and were assessed on emotional eating behaviour and health and taste attitudes. The chocolate with tagatose was perceived as more similar to the chocolate with sugar than with stevia on overall liking, texture, bitterness, duration of aftertaste and intensity of aftertaste. Furthermore, chocolate with sugar and chocolate with tagatose both elicited positive emotional conceptualisations whereas chocolate with stevia elicited negative emotional conceptualisations. In conclusion, dark chocolate with tagatose did not significantly differ from sugar in overall liking, most sensory attributes and emotional conceptualisation.