Novel techniques to measure the sensory, emotional, and physiological responses of consumers toward foods

Abstract

Sensory science is an evolving field that has been incorporating technologies from different disciplines. Sensory evaluation is very important for the food and beverage industries as it can provide applied insights regarding the reactions of consumers towards products. Traditional techniques such as discrimination, descriptive and affective tests have been utilized for understanding the sensory properties of foods and evaluating the hedonic and emotional responses of consumers. However, these techniques have their drawbacks and sensory scientists have been working on improving these methodologies or developing new measurement systems. For instance, sensory scientists have been investigating alternative measurements of consumers by using physiological responses. On the other hand, research has been conducted to understand the effects of context in the consumer evaluation of foods and beverages. Moreover, techniques such as home-use tests or virtual reality evaluations are being regarded as having more ecological validity since they require participants to taste the products in their day-to-day environments. This Special Issue of Foods aimed to understand the development of novel techniques to measure the sensory, emotional, and physiological responses of consumers toward food.