Texture and Semantics: The Conceptual Structure in Consumers' Minds

Considering that the memory encoding of perceptual components of our experience involves systems that are associated with the perceptual mechanism, textural terms might be organized in consumers' minds in relation to their perceptual experiences. The aim of this work was to better understand the semantic organization of texture characteristics for Spanish-speaking consumers, trying to obtain a meaningful word categorization, and to study differences between Spanish and Uruguayan consumers. Fifty-two Spanish consumers and 47 Uruguayan consumers were asked to sort 37 textural terms according to their own criteria and to write down a few words related to or describing each group. Spanish and Uruguayan consumers categorized the textural terms in the same way, suggesting that they might have developed the same memory structure. Nevertheless, differences were identified in terms of the number of groups used to classify the textural terms and the words used to describe them. Practical Applications Understanding the structure of texture vocabulary in consumers' minds could contribute to better describe the texture of food products during product development and the design of marketing and communication strategies. Results from the present work showed that despite cultural differences textural terms were arranged in groups clearly related to food physical structure and the mechanisms underlying their perception.