Time will tell: Dynamic sensory characteristics, hedonic perceptions and food-evoked emotions from first to last bite

Sensory perceptions evolve over time due to mastication and oral structural breakdown of food. Single bite assessments are common in sensory and consumer science, however, may not reflect natural eating conditions. This research investigates dynamic changes in food-evoked emotions, sensory and hedonic perceptions using multiple bite assessments employing Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) methodologies.

Results showed that sensory perceptions change during consumption due to adaptations, lingering and/or built-ups of sensory characteristics. Liking declined from first to last bite and the decline of desired and built ups of undesired sensory perceptions contributed to the decline in liking from first to last bite. Contrarily, food-evoked emotions did not change from first to last bite of consumption and did not provide additional information beyond liking.

This thesis concludes that multiple bite evaluations provide additional information about a consumer’s perception of food products which cannot be captured by single bite assessments alone.