Differences in Hedonic Responses, Facial Expressions and Self-Reported Emotions of Consumers Using Commercial Yogurts: A Cross-Cultural Study

Mitali Gupta; Damir D Torrico; Graham Hepworth; Sally L Gras; Lydia Ong; Jeremy J Cottrell; Frank R Dunshea

doi:10.3390/foods10061237

Differences in Hedonic Responses, Facial Expressions and Self-Reported Emotions of Consumers Using Commercial Yogurts: A Cross-Cultural Study

Foods. 2021 May 29;10(6):1237. doi: 10.3390/foods10061237.

Authors

Mitali Gupta^{1

2}, Damir D Torrico³, Graham Hepworth⁴, Sally L Gras^{2

5}, Lydia Ong^{2

5}, Jeremy J Cottrell^{1

2}, Frank R Dunshea^{1

2

6}

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture and Food, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
² Future Food Hallmark Research Initiative Project, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
³ Department of Wine, Food and Molecular Biosciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand.
⁴ Statistical Consulting Centre, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering and The Bio21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
⁶ Faculty of Biological Sciences, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.

Abstract

Hedonic scale testing is a well-accepted methodology for assessing consumer perceptions but is compromised by variation in voluntary responses between cultures. Check-all-that-apply (CATA) methods using emotion terms or emojis and facial expression recognition (FER) are emerging as more powerful tools for consumer sensory testing as they may offer improved assessment of voluntary and involuntary responses, respectively. Therefore, this experiment compared traditional hedonic scale responses for overall liking to (1) CATA emotions, (2) CATA emojis and (3) FER. The experiment measured voluntary and involuntary responses from 62 participants of Asian (53%) versus Western (47%) origin, who consumed six divergent yogurt formulations (Greek, drinkable, soy, coconut, berry, cookies). The hedonic scales could discriminate between yogurt formulations but could not distinguish between responses across the cultural groups. Aversive responses to formulations were the easiest to characterize for all methods; the hedonic scale was the only method that could not characterize differences in cultural preferences, with CATA emojis displaying the highest level of discrimination. In conclusion, CATA methods, particularly the use of emojis, showed improved characterization of cross-cultural preferences of yogurt formulations compared to hedonic scales and FER.

Keywords: Cochran’s Q test; biometrics; check-all-that-apply; conscious; correspondence analysis; ethnic; linear model; plant; unconscious.