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Flavor Expectation: The Effect of Assuming Homogeneity on Drink Perception

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Chemosensory Perception

Abstract

Here, we investigate whether the expectation that a drink tastes consistent across mouthfuls influences reported taste. A paradigm was developed to prompt the expectation that drink stimuli tasted identical to each other. Participants sipped two drinks and indicated whether they tasted the same. In some trials, the drinks appeared to be poured from the same jug, prompting the homogeneous taste expectation. These ‘same-jug’ drink pairs were reported more similar than ‘different-jug’ drink pairs, where the drinks were seen to be poured from different jugs, even when sweetness differed. This effect did not occur when the difference in sweetness between the drinks was too great. This suggests that expectancy effects act to smooth out variation in taste within a window of taste differences, until differences become perceptually noticeable. The expectation effect also dwindled over the course of the experiment, suggesting that expectations of similarity were updated with increasing experience of incongruous same-jug drinks. We conclude that flavor perception is best considered in terms of windows of flavor variation within which sensation changes to be more in line with expectations derived from past and current consumption experiences.

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Notes

  1. For first tasting trials, there were main effects of Jug [F(1,39) = 5.02, p = 0.031] and concentration [F(2,78) = 22.76, p < 0.00001] and the factors interacted [F(2,78) = 4.63, p = 0.013]. Post hoc tests found the same as reported previously (same-jug medium concentration trials were rated more similar than different-jug trials, p = 0.042; same-jug medium trials did not differ from same-jug High trials, p = 0.11; there were no differences between same-jug and different-jug similarity–sureness ratings for low concentration trials, p = 0.20).

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the European Commission for supporting this work within the Industry–Academia strategic partnership scheme (MTKI-CT-2006-042684).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unilever R&D Vlaardingen, Olivier van Noortlaan 120, 3133 AT, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands

    Andy T. Woods, Garmt B. Dijksterhuis & Anna Thomas

  2. School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, Zochonis Building, Brunswick Street, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Andy T. Woods, Ellen Poliakoff & Donna M. Lloyd

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  1. Andy T. Woods
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Correspondence to Andy T. Woods.

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Woods, A.T., Poliakoff, E., Lloyd, D.M. et al. Flavor Expectation: The Effect of Assuming Homogeneity on Drink Perception. Chem. Percept. 3, 174–181 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-010-9080-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12078-010-9080-2

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