Using implicit rather than explicit measures of emotions

Implicit and explicit measures are typically combined in laboratory food studies. Results of these laboratory studies often show little additional value of implicit compared to explicit measures. We argue that implicit measures of food experience should not be regarded as a more expensive and more complex equivalent of established explicit measures. Instead, each type of measure provides complementary information. Whereas explicit measures capture especially the sensory aspects of the food itself, implicit measures capture especially the total food experience from pre- to post- consumption, which not only relates to the food itself but also to factors such as the physical and social context in which foods are consumed in real life. This requires that implicit measures are applied outside the conventional laboratory habitat. Fortunately, this becomes increasingly possible with current technical developments.