Capturing implicit texture-flavour associations to predict consumers' new product preferences

New food product development involves explicit, sensory test phases, though these tests cannot identify consumers' automatic processes and do not consider influential links between perception and memory, so they often lead to biased responses. Rigorous implicit testing can reflect consumer decision making more accurately, by assessing automatic reactions, especially in the case of new food product development where affective reactions are one of the main drivers. Two studies demonstrate the feasibility (Study 1) and accuracy (Study 2) of an implicit sensory test involving the gustatory modality. A gustative priming protocol with a lexical decision task demonstrates that different textures are associated with different flavours in memory. An investigation of consumers' preferences for products that match the strongest associations further reveals that implicit protocols can inform new product development. Implicit measures of associations are more predictive than explicit measures and can be used upstream during new product development.

Automated summary

Implicit testing can more accurately reflect consumer decision making processes, especially in new food product development where affective reactions play a key role, as shown in two studies demonstrating the feasibility and accuracy of implicit sensory testing.