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The interaction between tactile form and background design on taste perception.

Kramer, L. (2017) The interaction between tactile form and background design on taste perception.

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Abstract:There are plenty of studies showing the importance of packaging when it comes to taste experience and product evaluation. However, there is still little known about how touch and vision interact to impact taste perception. This study builds forth on previous research, which shows that packaging structure can have influence on the taste perception of food and beverages. The present study implements 3D-printing technology to develop cups; one smooth and one angular tactile form in order to represent sweet and soft, and sour and strong tastes respectively. This research investigates the impact of these tactile forms in combination with background stimuli in the form of poster design as a function of product type (the sweet ice-cream flavour vanilla and the sour flavour lemon). Pre-testing showed that vanilla ice-cream was linked to smooth and rounded shapes while lemon was linked to sharp and angular shapes. For the main study, participants were seated in front of the poster design and asked to try one of the ice-cream flavours from the manufactured cups. They then evaluate the flavour on taste concepts such as sweetness, sourness, softness and sharpness. Results showed that the smooth tactile form increased perceived sweetness, while the angular tactile form increased the perceived taste intensity. Furthermore, although congruency of tactile form and ice-cream flavour showed to result in more favourable outcomes, incongruence of poster design (e.g. tasting vanilla from the smooth cup while being shown the angular poster) lead to higher ratings in liking of the ice-cream and in some cases impacted the taste evaluation favourably.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/73695
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