Assessing the Influence of Visual-Taste Congruency on Perceived Sweetness and Product Liking in Immersive VR

Chen, Yang; Huang, Arya Xinran; Faber, Ilona; Makransky, Guido; Pérez-Cueto, Federico J.A.

doi:10.3390/foods9040465

Cited by 45 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…We could only calculate effect size for those studies where either t-values or the combination of means and standard deviation/error were reported. size tested (N = 32), although this is in line with previous VR and color studies [N = 50 per cell (study 1) and N = 25 per cell (study 2) in Ammann et al (2020); N = 41 in Chen et al (2020)]. Another demographic issue is the admittedly uneven gender distribution of mostly men, due to the fact that we collected a convenience sample from computer science courses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…They demonstrated that seeing modified product colors in VR did in fact negatively impact flavor identification, and that flavor identification performance was not significantly different when participants did the study in VR vs. in real life, using food-coloring-modified products. Finally, even food-extrinsic changes in virtual environment have been shown to influence taste evaluations of different foods, such as a grenadine-based beverage tasting sweeter when consumed in a sweet-congruent environment compared to a bitter-congruent environment ( Chen et al, 2020 ), or when cold brew coffee tastes sweeter when consumed in an environment with pleasant color and music, compared to one with unpleasant color and music ( Nivedhan et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Dash of Virtual Milk: Altering Product Color in Virtual Reality Influences Flavor Perception of Cold-Brew Coffee

et al. 2020

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It is well known that the appearance of food, particularly its color, can influence flavor perception and identification. However, food studies involving the manipulation of product color face inevitable limitations, from extrinsic flavors introduced by food coloring to the cost in development time and resources in order to produce different product variants. One solution lies in modern virtual reality (VR) technology, which has become increasingly accessible, sophisticated, and widespread over the past years. In the present study, we investigated whether making a coffee look milkier in a VR environment can alter its perceived flavor and liking. Thirty-two United Kingdom (UK) consumers were given four samples of black cold brew coffee at 4 and 8% sucrose concentration. They wore VR headsets throughout the study and viewed the same coffee in a virtual setting. The color of the beverage was manipulated in VR, such that participants saw either a dark brown or light brown liquid as they sipped the coffee. A full factorial design was used so that each participant tasted each sweetness x color combination, Participants reported sweetness, creaminess, and liking for each sample. Results revealed that beverage color as viewed in VR significantly influenced perceived creaminess, with the light brown coffee rated to be creamier than dark brown coffee. However, beverage color did not influence perceived sweetness or liking. The present study supports the role of VR as a means of conducting food perception studies, either to gain a better understanding of multisensory integration, or, from an industry perspective, to enable rapid product testing when it may be time-intensive or costly to produce the same range of products in the real-world. Furthermore, it opens potential future opportunities for VR to promote healthy eating behavior by manipulating the visual appearance of foods.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Dash of Virtual Milk: Altering Product Color in Virtual Reality Influences Flavor Perception of Cold-Brew Coffee

et al. 2020

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“…In the farm atmosphere, it is possible that a sensation transference effect was at play and predominant colors in the atmospheres influenced participants' tastes perception (Cheskin, 1957 ; Chen et al, 2018 ). Indeed, Chen et al ( 2020 ) found that sweet-congruent (i.e., round shapes and red colors) VR environments can increase the perception of sweetness of beverages (i.e., grenadine juice). In our case, it is possible that participants associated the high amount of green color with expectations of acidity of the coffee.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the possibilities VR brings to consumer contexts, there has been a growing number of articles on VR in sensory and consumer science in recent years (Spence et al, 2016 ; Sinesio et al, 2018 ; Stelick et al, 2018 ; Andersen et al, 2019 ; Hannum et al, 2019 ; Petit et al, 2019 ; Picket and Dando, 2019 ; Chen et al, 2020 ). VR is becoming an effective tool for companies to develop immersive brand experiences with the potential to transport consumers to specific locations an allow them to “live” stories (see also Rogers, 2018 ).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual Terroir and the Premium Coffee Experience

2021

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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.

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“…In this Special Issue, Chen et al [ 9 ] dig deeper into how taste perception (sweetness) is perceived through sensory information coming from different senses. They use an immersive technology (Virtual Reality) to present visual cues to their participants to create a sense of immersion and feelings of presence and involvement.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%