Journal of Sensory Studies最新文献

The key packaging element in healthy snacks is the ingredient. This research highlights the use of eye tracking by companies to achieve greater effectiveness on the consumer's attention. Three healthy snacks were presented to analyze whether there are differences in their attention, choice, and purchase intention according to the type of ingredient. An eye-tracking device and a questionnaire were applied and the results showed that the central area of the packaging of healthy snacks in which the ingredients are shown attracts more attention. Positive relationships between the choice of a snack and the intention to purchase it, and between the total fixation duration and the choice of a product were found. Food products with more hedonic components (flavor, e.g., chocolate) were much more visually attractive and captured more attention. At the same time, those products with less desirable or palatable ingredients were chosen less.

Practical Applications

This research provides insights into how packaging design influences consumer perceptions of healthy snacks. Food packaging plays a crucial role in capturing consumer attention and communicating information that affects their purchasing decisions. In this context, understanding how consumers direct their attention and what information they consider when evaluating products is essential for professionals in fields such as food science, marketing and graphic design, where the use of eye-tracking devices is key. Furthermore, resistance to less desirable or unfamiliar products hinders purchase intent, suggesting the need to improve their appeal and communicate their health benefits. This study confirms that, when designing the packaging of healthy snacks, it is necessary to focus more on the central part of the packaging, which should show the composition and its appearance with a real image of it.

This study aims to determine if children follow the same cortical activation patterns as adults when responding to two-point discrimination sensory stimuli during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We recruited 15 children with typical development, aged between 8 and 16 years. These participants were asked to complete a two-point discrimination test (task block) while undergoing an fMRI scan. In the two-point stimulus test, strong activation compared to baseline was observed in the left and right frontal orbital cortex. The inferior parietal lobe also exhibited activity, particularly on the right side, with activation in both the supramarginal and angular gyri. Further activity was evident in the left supramarginal gyrus and the left paracingulate gyrus. This novel study on fMRI two-point discrimination testing in children shows the activation patterns in key brain regions involved in somatosensory discrimination and decision making.

Practical Applications

This study provides crucial normative data on cortical activation patterns during two-point discrimination testing in typically developing children. Such data serve as a valuable reference point for future research investigating sensory processing and cognitive function in pediatric populations. Researchers can use these findings to establish benchmarks and compare cortical activation patterns in children with neurodevelopmental conditions. This information is essential for exploring pathology, which may affect tactile sensation techniques and developing targeted interventions tailored to individual needs in pediatric treatment. Additionally, it lays the groundwork for further exploration into the neural mechanisms underpinning somatosensory discrimination, potentially leading to advancements in understanding and treating sensory-related disorders in children.

Chronic stress has been linked to changes in taste or odor perception. People with high levels of perceived chronic stress consume more fatty foods. However, few studies have investigated whether perceived chronic stress is associated with altered fat perception. High-stress (N = 33) and low-stress (N = 31) participants were pre-screened using the simplified Chinese version of the Perceived Stress Scale (SCPSS). Oral and olfactory discrimination of fat between milk samples with different fat contents (0%, 2%, and 3.5%) were assessed using the A-Not A with reminder task (A-Not AR). Perceived creaminess, fattiness, and liking for fat taste/flavor were measured using Likert scales. Dairy intake was measured using the food frequency scales and the 24-hour food recall questionnaires. No significant difference in fat discrimination performance was found between the high- and low-stress groups. Compared with the low-stress group, the high-stress group showed reduced pleasantness ratings for the whole milk fat flavor and taste (with nose clips). In addition, the high-stress group ate less vegetables and fruits than the low-stress group. For people with high levels of perceived stress, the observed altered fat sensory preference may contribute to the consumption or choice of certain foods.

Practical Applications

The perception of fat contributes to food consumption. The current results suggest that a high level of perceived stress is associated with decreased hedonic food-related fat sensory perception, which contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying stress-related eating behavior and may help future research on dietary or psychological interventions for stressed populations.

CATATIS is a recently developed method for the analysis of multiple binary datasets such as Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) data. CATATIS yields a homogeneity index reflecting the overall agreement among the panelists and weights associated with the panelists that highlight the extent to which they agree with the general point of view. These weights are used to compute an average group configuration, which is submitted to Correspondence Analysis to derive a perceptual product map. Here, CATATIS is extended to situations where the data are not binary. In particular, we focus on the case of data from a CATA experiment with repetitions and data from a Rate-All-That-Apply (RATA) experiment. Furthermore, a hypothesis-testing framework based on permutations is set up to assess the significance of the weights associated with the panelists. Finally, the general strategy of analysis is illustrated using data from real case studies pertaining to CATA and RATA experiments.

Practical Applications

Evaluating panel performance is often important in sensory studies, especially in industrial contexts. While many professionals are familiar with evaluating the outputs of conventional descriptive analysis, the increasing adoption of rapid sensory methods calls for methods and tools tailored to different sensory tasks. Our paper introduces an approach (CATATIS) to enhance the interpretation of the outputs of CATA and RATA tasks, focusing on attribute consistency, overall panel agreement, and individual weights associated with panelists. The approach is demonstrated through concrete case studies. CATATIS, together with its extensions, are available in XLSTAT software and in the R package ClustBlock.

This research aimed to use two projective methods and the Big Five Personality Traits (BFPT) model to study food consumer behavior in the case of traditional Mexican cheeses. Based on an online survey (n = 197), this study employs the Word Association and Mason-Haire's Shopping List projective techniques with two shopping lists (traditional vs. supermarket). Several factors influencing consumers' perceptions of traditional cheeses were identified, such as hedonism, sensory characteristics, quality and freshness. The shopping list allowed the identification of factors related to food consumption and consumer personality traits. Conscientiousness and Neuroticism were associated with the profile of the consumer who purchases food in supermarkets. In contrast, the personalities of Agreeableness and Openness were associated with the profile of the consumer of traditional Mexican cheeses. The results of this research could be helpful in promoting and marketing traditional foods, considering consumers' personality traits.

Practical applications

This research identified consumer perceptions of traditional cheeses produced in the central region of Mexico and the personality traits associated with the consumer profile of these food products. The results can be of great use to the cheese-producing agroindustry, considering that consumers are aware that by purchasing these products, they are contributing to the development and support of the local economy. Therefore, it is essential for producers and sellers to consider the attributes that consumers associate with traditional cheeses, such as artisanal and local characteristics, hedonic value, and consumers' personality traits.

Using an online questionnaire, the perception of additives/stabilizers in ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk was investigated using different projective techniques. Clustering data on the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) identified two groups of participants, Moderates and Judicious, with the latter assigning significantly higher agreement scores for all FCQ items. In the Word Association task, clean label UHT milk was more associated with “Nutrients and Constituents” by the Moderates and less by the Judicious, suggesting that for part of the interviewed participants, the absence of stabilizers increases the general quality of the product. In the Product Personality Profiling task, the same product was related to “young people” and a “balanced diet” by the Moderates. At the same time, the Judicious was designed for a stereotype of healthy living. Finally, the methodologies used provide valuable insights into the dairy sector, holistically highlighting the nuances in consumer preferences and expectations, offering a significant strategic opportunity for developing and promoting new clean-label products in the segment.

Practical Application

Investigating consumer perceptions regarding the absence of additives offers valuable insights for marketing strategies and product development aimed at different consumer market segments, especially the dairy sector, and contributes to consumer psychology and behavioral research. At the same time, the food industry can use these findings to improve attribute communication, build consumer confidence, and adapt products to identified preferences, reflecting a practical intersection between academia and the industry.

Underwear is an intimate apparel with skin contact that impacts wearer's sensory experience. The visual and tactile properties of an underwear play critical roles in consumers' comfort and style considerations. This study concentrated on analyzing consumer perceptual preferences for underwear through surveys of bipolar word-pairs describing the visual and tactile properties of underwear. A questionnaire on the word pairs was designed using semantic differential scales, and 60 selected participants were surveyed under five test modes, including visual observations and tactile explorations (such as touching, pressing, and grasping). Clustering analysis was utilized to categorize the word-pairs into four clusters—“appearance,” “hand,” “style,” and “quality”—representing vital aspects of consumer concerns about underwear. The significance of the clusters and the test modes in assessing perceived underwear values was scrutinized, and the models to predict underwear's perceived values were established through multivariate regression analysis. It was found that consumers are likely to prioritize the “appearance” and “style” clusters over the “hand” and “quality” clusters, and the visual and grasping tests over the other tactile tests. The predictive models demonstrate high reliability in estimating the perceived values of underwear.

Practical Applications

The study findings highlight that, in assessing underwear products, consumers give greater importance to “appearance” and “style” than to “hand” and “quality.” In addition, the visual and grasping tests prove more effective than the other three methods (i.e., palm touching, fingertip touching, and fingertip pressing). These insights are valuable for underwear designers aiming to create marketable products. Moreover, the predictive models developed in the study exhibit high reliability, offering a valuable guide for consumer purchasing decisions. This is particularly pertinent in online shopping scenarios where the physical sensing of visual and tactile features of underwear is not possible.

Sensory experience pertaining to any of the recognized senses can manifest as a form of intangible cultural heritage, therefore having considerable value for society. Heritage research into multiple sensory components needs to consider not simply the social experience of each of the individual modalities, but how these sensory components combine or integrate to form an all-encompassing multisensory experience. Clear terminologies are needed to accurately identify and describe such complex processes. We put forward a distinct lexicon in this perspective, building on conventional terms “multisensory perception” and “multisensory integration” and advancing the definitions “multisensory experience” and “multisensory heritage.”

Practical applications

This perspective serves to delineate the extension of the term multisensory into the social science discipline. The sharing of a common nomenclature will allow a more unified development and scientific rigor moving forward and allows us to recognize, identify, and describe complex processes of multisensory experience and multisensory heritage. It allows us to understand that the human emotional response to multisensory experience is culturally enshrined, being recognized as a form of multisensory heritage following attribution of societal values. Finally, it recognizes the experiential response to multisensory heritage is unique, being significantly different than those of individual sensory experiences, presenting opportunities and challenges in heritage management.