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Tale As Old As Time: The Effect of Cognition and Language on Time Perception

Coming soon to a University Theater near you (Photo from the UP Guilder Annual Facebook page)

“Ever just as sure,

As the sun(flowers) will rise”

As our time as undergraduate students is almost up, we look back on some of our memorable UP experiences:

G: I remember my first day of class in UP like it was yesterday. I recall walking around the oval with my blockmates and sitting on the AS steps for the first time. The whole idea of UP -- honor and excellence, the campus, the academic freedom -- excited my sheltered-freshie-self, and that day I promised myself that I would make the most out of my college experience. So much has happened since then, and when I look back, I can’t help but feel that 4 years seemed to have passed by so quickly.

Arla: I entered college without the slightest idea of what I wanted to do in life. I’ve always been a nerd, but I was never good at anything in particular. It actually wasn’t until my second to the last semester in UP that I realized I wanted to do something involving both biology and psychology –– two fields that I’ve grown to love. Before my eureka moment, college felt like a drag as my eyes were only set on graduating on time. After that, however, everything suddenly went so fast and I found myself busy trying to take it all in. It’s been an amazing journey of self-discovery and growth, and I’m thankful to have learned from UP that the journey is more important than the destination.

Ina: I had some semesters in UP where I felt like the sem was taking forever to end. I was begging for them to be over. But my last sem in UP was different. It felt like it was on fast forward. I thought the sem had only started, but the next moment, I was down to my last two weeks. I didn’t think I would ever say it, but I wish things would just slow down first. I don’t think I’m ready to leave UP yet!

Jimo: I’m really that kind of person who just likes to take their time, take everything in. I guess that’s what my life in UP was like. I felt that so many things happened, from the waiting for hours for a class to the numerous exams you spent days studying only for it to be over in an hour. I keep forgetting that’s it’s only been 4 years since I entered UP. It really feels like I’ve been here forever; I’m not complaining though, because it was a wonderful ride.

Stanley: I think it’s inevitable in every college student’s experience to have a dragging class –– one wherein you’re constantly checking your watch to see if it’s almost time to go. Of course, there also exist classes wherein time simply flies because of great content and engaging discussions. Though the language, or method of pedagogy may affect my time perception, despite the differences in my classes, the contrast allowed me to further discriminate what I truly want to spend my time on. Mahal kita UP!

Although our individual experiences differ, we saw something they all shared in common. It seemed that there were instances when we thought time flew by so fast, and other situations when we thought time dragged on. Given this, we wanted to find out what affects how we perceive time. After reviewing the literature, we found that cognitive state and language had an effect on time perception. We then came up with three hypotheses: (1) being in a cognitive state that required you to solve a problem would be perceived the longest, and anger would be perceived longer than sadness, (2) Filipino would be perceived longer than English, and (3) the interaction between cognition and language would have a significant effect on time perception.

To test this, we randomly assigned 150 undergraduate students (91 females, 51 males) to one of six possible groups (Sad-English, Angry-English, Problem Solving-English, Sad-Filipino, Angry-Filipino, Problem Solving-Filipino). Depending on their group, the participant listened to an audio recording of a speaker narrating a story that evoked sadness, evoked anger, or involved problem solving in either English or Filipino. After listening to the recording, they answered a few questions about the story. The goal was to check if they were paying attention to the story, if they could correctly identify the cognitive state the narrator was in, and if they felt the same emotion. The participants also estimated the length of the recording and answered the Bilingual Language Profile to determine their mother tongue.

After running the appropriate statistical tests on the data, we found no significant difference among the three cognitive states (sad, angry, and problem solving) as well as between the two languages (English and Filipino) on time perception. There was also no significant interaction between cognition and language on time perception.

Since the results didn’t support our hypotheses, we looked into factors that may have mediated the relationship between cognition, language, and time perception. The first factor we looked into was emotional contagion, which is the transfer of emotions from one person to another. Hatfield, Rapson, and Lee (2009) proposed two mechanisms of emotional contagion: the presence of a physical component and attention. The first mechanism emphasizes the physical component which includes vocal feedback, facial expressions, and body language. In our experiment, the participant only listened to an audio recording, and so there was no physical component present. This absence may have affected the emotion felt by the participants. Meanwhile, the story’s length could have affected attention, the second mechanism of emotional contagion. Participants listened to an approximately 5 minute recording, and there’s a high likelihood that they became distracted at some point while listening.

Considering the Filipino context, emotional contagion could have also been affected by the impersonal relationship between the participant and the narrator of the story. The participant saw the narrator as an “outsider” or Ibang-Tao as opposed to “one-of-us” or Hindi-Ibang-Tao. Pe-Pua and Protacio-Marcelino (2000) suggested that a more meaningful interaction is possible if one is considered Hindi-Ibang-Tao. Thus, the narrator’s categorization of Ibang-Tao may have affected emotion contagion.

The second factor that may have mediated the relationship between cognition, language, and time perception was arousal. The different cognitive states did not produce a significant effect in our results despite the evidence that arousal levels affect time perception. Research shows that physiological manipulations of body temperature (Wearden & Penton-Voak 1995 as cited in Droit-Volet & Gil, 2009) and dopaminergic agonists (Maricq et al. 1981; Cheng et al. 2007, as cited in Droit-Volet & Gil, 2009) influences how a person perceives time. We think that the content of the stories were not able to induce a significant level of arousal in our participants. However, due to lack of resources, we weren’t able to physically measure the levels at which our participants were emotionally aroused.

Should anyone wish to continue this research, we recommend (1) using shorter stimuli to sustain the participants’ attention, (2) ensuring that the stimuli’s content elicits the specific emotion, and (3) establishing a Hindi-Ibang-Tao relationship with the narrator through telling the participants that the narrator is a good friend of theirs.

Moving forward, we hope to inspire other researchers to conduct studies related to this topic and in doing so, provide people with better insight into their thought processes.

References

Droit-Volet, S., & Gil, S. (2009). The time–emotion paradox. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1525), 1943-1953. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0013

Hatfield, E., Rapson, R. L., & Le, Y. C. (2009). Emotional contagion and empathy. MIT. Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Smell Ya Later (by Jimo Mantaring)

Although cravings for food are generally not pathological, they can be problematic for some people, and pose significant health risks.

Once in a while, you watch an advertisement for food on the television or internet. After watching it, you suddenly have an urge, a craving for that certain kind of food. You can imagine it being served right before you, with that delicious smell and how it melts in your mouth when you’re eating. It’s just that you don’t want to give in to these cravings. You either don’t have the money for it or you’re trying to live a healthier lifestyle. But it’s really hard to resist the temptation to eat it. What should you do?

Smell something else.

In 2013, researchers Kemps and Tiggermann wanted to see if smelling an odor can reduce food cravings. Participants were presented with 30 pictures, and were given interference task conditions (either control, smelling, hearing) after each picture was shown for 5 seconds. The images were of 5 sweet (chocolate, cake, ice cream, muffin, biscuit) and savoury (pizza, hot chips, hamburger, crisps, pasta) food. There were 3 pictures for each kind of food.

A sample of what were shown to the participants.

After seeing the pictures, the participants were asked to retain an image of the picture while doing a task for 8 seconds. The task consisted of staring at a blank screen for the control condition, smelling methyl acetate (a scent similar to that of some nail polish) for the smelling condition, and listening to a female voice speak Dutch for the hearing condition. They then rated their food craving intensity on a 100-mm visual analogue scale, ranging from “no desire or urge to eat” to “extremely strong desire or urge to eat.”

The results of the experiment showed that smelling condition lowered their cravings better than hearing and control condition regardless if the photo shown was sweet or savoury. They repeated this set-up but instead showed chocolate-containing food: chocolate cake (whole), chocolate cake (slice), chocolate bar, brownie, chocolate pudding, chocolate muffin, chocolate ice-cream, chocolate biscuit, chocolate mousse and chocolate doughnut. This is because chocolate is the most commonly craved food in Western culture. What the researchers found were also similar to the results of the first set-up.

Since the nature of food cravings are related to the sense of smell, being presented another odour competes with the food craving for the limited attention we have for it. Sniffing an odor is also less demanding compared to imagining an odor because you don’t have to think about it, making it effective at reducing food cravings. Since the participants were shown images, it mimics what we see in everyday advertisements in videos or pictures online or in television, making the results valid.  

So now that you know how to stop those food cravings, apply them yourself. Have something to smell with you to stop yourself from giving into those cravings. You can live a healthier (and cheaper) life style because of this. What are you waiting for?

Reference

Kemps, E., & Tiggemann, M. (2013). Olfactory stimulation curbs food cravings. Addictive Behavior, 38, 1550–1554. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2012.06.001

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What You Smell Can Affect What You Decide to Eat (by Ina Aguirre)

Have you ever craved for a certain kind of food but had no explanation for it? Well, it’s possible that you smelled something you didn’t even know you smelled! This link between “unconscious” smells and food choices was studied by Gaillet-Torrent, Sulmont-Rossé, Issanchou, Chabanet, & Chambaron (2014) in their paper entitled “Impact of a non-attentively perceived odour on subsequent food choices.”

The researchers hypothesized that priming participants with a fruity odor (in this case, the odor of a pear) would make them choose food that contained fruits or vegetables.

The experiment consisted of 3 parts: (1) olfactory priming, (2) menu task, and (3) investigation questionnaire. In olfactory priming, participants were randomly assigned to either a non-odorised waiting room or a pear-odorised waiting room. They had to stay there for 15 minutes. The researchers did various methods and tests to make sure that the odor would be barely noticeable. This is to make sure that the odor would be processed unconsciously.

After this, the participants were led to a non-odorised testing room. Each participant was shown food in a buffet style and they were asked to choose a starter, main course, and dessert. For each course, there were 2 choices: one with fruits and vegetables and one without fruits or vegetables. The menu can be found in the photo below.

Food for the menu task (Photos are not mine)

Lastly, the participants were asked to answer an investigation questionnaire. They were asked to write what they thought the study was about and if they noticed anything in particular. This was to make sure that the participants had no clue what was being studied and to make sure that none of them noticed the pear odor.

The researchers did statistical analyses to compare the two groups (exposed to pear odor vs. control group) and the results are quite interesting! They found that pear odor priming had no significant effect on choice of starter and main course, but, pear odor priming had a significant effect on choice of dessert (Gaillet-Torrent et al., 2014). The participants who were in the room with the pear odor chose the fruity dessert more frequently than those in the control. Also, those in the control chose the non-fruity dessert more than the fruit dessert.

Results of the study showing that there was a significant difference between the control group and the scented group based on their dessert choices, but not for the other courses (Gaillet-Torrent et al., 2014).

These results show that being exposed to an odor can affect food choices (in this case, dessert choices). From the results, we can also see that the effects of the odor seem to be pretty specific. The participants smelled the odor of a pear. Pears are usually consumed as a dessert. This means that the effect of the odor is probably only specific to course it is usually associated with. Also, I think it’s possible that the link between apples (the fruity dessert) and pears is stronger than the other fruits and vegetables used as stimuli.

Now, you might be thinking that the participants were probably aware and were making conscious choices based on the pear odor that they were exposed to. But, the responses on the investigation questionnaire show that the participants had no clue that there was even a pear odor in the waiting room. This further proves that it really is something unconscious that affected the choices of the participants.

The researchers proposed two theories to explain this phenomenon. The first is the spreading activation theory, which states that in our long term memory, we have a very intricate map of concepts that are all connected to one another. The pear odor probably activated the words ‘pear’ or ‘fruit’, which then activated ‘fruity dessert’, or other fruits, like ‘apples’, and this probably influenced dessert choice. Another way to explain is through the compound cue theory. Basically, a compound cue is the combination of the prime and the stimulus in short term memory. This compound cue is then compared to the information in our long term memory. Pairs that are more associated will be more familiar, and will therefore be easier to retrieve. The compound cue “pear-compote” was probably more familiar than “pear-brownie”, which led participants to choose the fruity dessert.

The findings of this study are very interesting because it may be possible to affect behavior without the person knowing. More has to be studied about this process, because it’s probably a bit more complicated than we think. However, I think this study is promising. Maybe in the future, it could be possible to promote health eating by just unconsciously priming someone to with the use of odors!

Reference

Gaillet-Torrent, M., Sulmont-Rossé, C., Issanchou, S., Chabanet, C., & Chambaron, S. (2014). Impact of a non-attentively perceived odour on subsequent food choices. Appetite, 76, 17-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.01.009

Images from:

https://www.tripadvisor.fr/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g196642-d1827803-i140986989-LE_SAINT_MICHEL-Cabourg_Calvados_Basse_Normandie_Normandy.html

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/carottes-rapee/

https://uk.pinterest.com/explore/cannelloni-bolognaise-942759183691/?lp=true

https://www.thiriet.com/produits/gamme_specifique/avantages_et_bien-etre/plats_cuisines/saumon_riz_facon_risotto_verde_et_sauce_au_citron,163,1139.html?&args=Y29tcF9pZD00OCZhY3Rpb249ZmljaGUmaWQ9Jnw%3D&vars=ZmFtaWxsZV9pZD1TRkFNMS0wOS0wNSZwcm9kdWl0X2lkPTg3ODE5

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/24412/cocoa-brownies-recipe/

http://www.cuisineaz.com/recettes/compote-de-pommes-a-la-cannelle-facile-50449.aspx

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Body Odor and the Meat Misteak (by Stanley Magno)

Want to smell better and attract more women? Who doesn't? There's a simple solution that allows you to hit those two birds with one stone: Beat the meat!

Nope, that's not what I’m talking about! I'm talking about removing meat from your diet. Specifically, red meat. Havlicek & Lenochova (2006) conducted a study wherein one group of males were placed on a meat diet, and others were placed on a non-meat diet. They were required to wear axillary or armpit pads during the final stages of the diet, and were then collected as odor samples. 30 women were tasked to smell the armpit pads, and rate their attractiveness, pleasantness, and intensity.

Yes, that's right, they were tasked to smell armpit pads. For science! The researchers found that men on a non-meat diet had more attractive-smelling and pleasant-smelling pads with less intensity, compared to their meat-eating counterparts.

The researchers attribute the difference in smell to proteins and how it is digested within the body. We know that some theories of smell deal with chemical properties of odorants, and it’s highly possible that meat alters our metabolism and the natural odorants we release into the environment.

Reference

Havlicek, J., & Lenochova, P. (2006). The effect of meat consumption on body odor attractiveness. Chemical senses, 31(8), 747-752.

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Association between Sense of Smell Impairment and Poor Quality Diet in Older Adults (by G Wilwayco)

As a young kid, I remember being so excited going to my grandparents’ house because it meant that I could play with my cousins. We’d spend the whole afternoon running around and chasing after each other, not wanting to be tagged “it.” Though my cousins’ company was great, the best part of the visits to their house would always be my lola’s stash of chocolate hidden beneath their queen-sized bed. It was an open secret among all of us cousins that that was where she kept all her Snickers, Milky Ways, Baby Ruths, and Butterfingers; and that all we had to do was ask nicely and she would give us as many as our hearts desired.

Chocolate!

My lola loved food in general. She was the stereotypical Filipino relative who always said “o kain ka pa” at every family lunch, merienda, or dinner. During these family gatherings, however, I also noticed that my parents, aunts, and uncles, would increasingly monitor what she ate as her senses and overall health declined through the years.

Alden with his “lola” at the dining table

I remembered my lola as I read the study of Gopinath, Russell, Sue, Flood, Burlutsky, and Mitchell (2016) that aimed to find out if there was a relationship between weakened senses, particularly that of smell, and overall diet quality in older adults.

This area of study piqued their interest because although there is much research on the importance of humans’ sense of smell, its functions, its roles, and its decline as we age, there is a lack of longitudinal studies (studies that measure one or more characteristics of participants at point in time A and again at point in time B) that focus on the connection between olfactory impairment and food intake of older adults.

The researchers collected data using the San Diego Odor Identification Test (SDOIT) to measure olfactory impairment. To collect data on the participants’ diets, a self-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used. This data was then checked against the Australian diet quality index to come up with the total diet score (TDS) so that they could assess adherence to Australian dietary guidelines.

Portion of the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ)

The analyses were adjusted for age and sex, then also for education level, living status, receipt of pension, and body mass index. The results show that for women, there was an independent but modest association between the degree of olfactory impairment and poorer diet quality (as measured by adherence to dietary guidelines) 5 years later. The same results were not observed in men.

A functional olfactory system and as a result, a healthy sense of smell is needed to fully enjoy food and its flavors. Consequently, olfactory impairment due to aging can have an impact on dietary habits and behaviors. These results are supported by past research, as people with impaired sense of smell were observed to have lower intakes of protein, folate, magnesium, and phosphorus – which are needed for good nutrition.

A balanced diet is vital for good nutrition

However, it is important to note that the possibility of other external factors, like lifestyle and behavioral differences, which could have influenced the pattern of food intake. More research is needed to support or refute this claim. Nevertheless, the results of this study could have potential implications regarding public health, as statistics show that 1 in 4 adults could suffer from impaired sense of smell. Knowing about the association of olfactory impairment and poorer diet in older adults, we could be more conscious about our food choices as we age to preserve our health.

Reference Gopinath, B., Russell, J., Sue, C. M., Flood, V. M., Burlutsky, G., & Mitchell, P. (2016). Olfactory impairment in older adults is associated with poorer diet quality over 5 years. European Journal of Nutrition, 55(3), 1081-1087. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-0921-2

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The Taste and Price of Anticipation (by Arla Salcedo)

Most, if not all, of us have experienced impulse buying at the grocery store, especially when it comes to food. We try our best not to, but sometimes we just can’t help it.

A man in the bread aisle. Maybe he’s thinking: To buy or not to buy that box of chocolate? (Photo by Gattuso, 2005)

It makes me wonder: What factors affect our impulse and decision to buy food?

I found a possible answer from the study of David J. Moore (2013), Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Michigan, about the relationship between the smell of food and purchase intention. In doing so, he considered three factors that mediate this relationship: taste anticipation, subjective expected pleasure, and taste enjoyment.

The power of an enticing aroma comes from the fact that we easily perceive it. Olfactory sensations are sent directly to the limbic system, the set of structures in the brain involved in our emotions and memories. It’s not surprising, then, that catching a whiff of food that reminds us of good times can unconsciously make us anticipate its taste, expect that it will taste delicious, and enjoy it when we’re eating it.

To explore the relationship between the smell of food and purchase intention, and its mediating factors (taste anticipation, subjective expected pleasure, and taste enjoyment), Moore invited 129 students at the University to participate in “taste tests” for a popular food retailer’s new line of cookies, in exchange for $12. Before entering the laboratory, the students provided their biographical information and indicated the extent to which they were hungry (“my stomach is empty/full” and “I have no desire/strong desire to eat”) on a scale of 1 to 7.

Upon entering, one group was exposed to the aroma of Cinnabon rolls, which were out of their sight. The other group was not exposed to this aroma. Each student sat in a separate cubicle with a questionnaire and a plate with 25 Trader Joe cookies. Before the students could eat, they were asked two questions. The first was a measure of subjective expected pleasure: “When you think about the fact that you will be tasting this new line of cookies in front of you, how ____ does that make you feel?” The students indicated how not at all excited/excited; not at all happy/happy; no enjoyment/much enjoyment; and no pleasure/much pleasure they felt, on a scale of 1 to 7.

Participants in Moore’s study ate as many cookies as they wanted. Yum! (Photo by Jaclyn, 2014)

The second question was a measure of taste anticipation: “Before you actually get a chance to taste these cookies, how do you imagine the taste will be?” The students indicated whether they think it will be not very moist/very moist; not very tasty/very tasty; and not very delicious/very delicious, again on a scale of 1 to 7.

After the students ate as many cookies as they wanted, they were asked about taste enjoyment and about the likelihood of them buying this brand of cookies in the near future and recommending this brand to a friend, on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 = very unlikely; 7 = very likely).

What do you think were the key findings?

Moore found that the relationship between the smell of food and purchasing behavior is, in fact, an indirect one: First, food aroma triggers taste anticipation, which in turn prompts subjective expected pleasure, taste enjoyment, and finally purchase intention. What’s even more interesting is that when Moore asked the students how many cookies they would’ve eaten “if they fully yielded to their impulses”, those who were exposed to the aroma were willing to eat significantly more cookies than those who weren’t exposed to the aroma.

Although the smell of food can be inviting, it turns out that it only plays a secondary role in purchase intention; anticipating the taste is the key driver.

So the next time you go to the grocery store, ask yourself before buying: Is it the smell that makes me want to buy it? Or is it my anticipation of the taste? If you follow Moore’s advice, it’s your taste anticipation that seals the deal.

References

Gattuso, L.  (2005). chillin' in the bread aisle [Online image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/dogwelder/68576640

Jaclyn (2014). Chocolate chip cookie bites [Online image]. Retrieved from http://www.cookingclassy.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-bites/

Moore, D. (2013). Is anticipation delicious? Visceral factors as mediators of the effect of olfactory cues on purchase intentions. Journal Of Business Research, 67(9), 2045-2051. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.10.005

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It’s The Air We Breathe Not (REALLY) THE FOOD WE EAT (by Jimo Mantaring)

Fast food chains can be seen everywhere we go.

Fast food restaurants can be seen in any major street, establishment, or area. There’s probably a McDonald’s or Jollibee branch easily accessible to wherever you are right now. If you find going there to already be an inconvenience to you, just pick up your phone and dial away their hotline for your food to be delivered. With today’s technology, with a click of a button, you can already have your food delivered. Fast food is so delicious, accessible, and cheaper than most food that we won’t even second-guess what we’re doing, much more what we’re ordering. It’s no wonder that so many people are getting fat and unhealthy. Is there a way to limit what we eat but still enjoy ourselves? That’s what researchers wanted to find out.

Convenience and time, the two things that influence how we make decisions at this time and age. With the fast paced lifestyle brought about by the 21st century, it’s no surprise that these factors drive how we think and act. People would want for things to come easier to them at a much quicker rate. This even applies to what or where we want to eat. Are you willing to make some time off your busy schedule to get a delicious meal or would you prefer that in mere minutes the food is already ready for you? That’s how fast food restaurants appeal to so many.

A fine dining experience mixed with fast food

What the researchers found was pretty interesting.  Though customers would order similar food with similar calorie servings in their first orders, those eating in the fine dining environment took longer than those in the fast food environment. They also ate less and had more leftovers from their first order. Also, those in the fine dining environment were less likely to order extra food but when they did order extra food, it had less calories compared to those from the fast food environment. They also rated the food they ordered better than in the fast food environment.

A study done by Wansink and Van Ittersum in 2012 focused on how the lights and music of a fast food restaurant would affect how much a customer would eat. They redesigned a popular fast food restaurant so that it would have two dining areas: a fast food environment with bright lights, colors and loud noise and music, and a fine dining environment with relaxing jazz music, white tablecloth with candles on the table, paintings, and a waiter to serve the customers by bringing their food, refilling their drinks, and taking additional orders. Customers were randomly seated and observed by experimenters posing as customers.

In the end, it’s what makes us happy (and full) that matters

What does this mean for the fast food industry? For starters they could redesign the look of their different branches so that it would cater more to the satisfaction of the experience of customers when eating there. The happier they are, the more likely they would come back, which means more money for the industry. For those who want to decrease what they eat, this could mean that the environment really affects how one behaves. If you eat in a place which is quieter and dimmer than the usual places, chances are, you would eat less. The key then would be to cater to your preferred atmosphere instead of the food.

Now that you know this, go out there and enjoy your burger! You might not even gain (much) weight with the right environment.

Reference

Wansink, B., & Van Ittersum, K. (2012). Fast food restaurant lighting and music can reduce calorie intake and increase satisfaction. Psychological Reports, 111(1), 228-232. http://doi.org/10.2466/01.PR0.111.4.228-232

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Tell Me Your Favorite Song (by Ina Aguirre)

Close your eyes and imagine eating, but with no sound. You can’t hear your utensils hit the plate as you grab another bite. You can’t hear the shells breaking when you’re biting into your taco. You can’t hear yourself chew. You can’t hear yourself slurping your soup or sipping your drink. Isn’t it weird?

The senses we usually associate with eating are taste and smell, but we tend to forget that sound also plays a role in creating our eating experience.

The sounds I described above are sounds related to the food being eaten, but did you know that even the “background” noise, like talking to friends, or the music playing in some restaurant, also play a role in how you experience your food? Yes, that’s right. Even the littlest things matter when you’re eating. So if you want to know how to enjoy your food, keep reading!

In 2016, a study was conducted by Kantono and his colleagues, where they tested if listening to music affects one’s perception of gelati. (If I knew they were looking for participants and knew that I just had to eat gelato, I would have signed up!)

Strawberry + yogurt rose gelato

Myeong Dong, South Korea

Photo by: Ina Aguirre

The researchers wanted to know if the type of music played made a difference in the perceived taste of the gelato. But, they didn’t want to compare music based on genre. They wanted to take into account that people have different tastes in music. And so, they grouped the music as “liked”, “disliked”, and “neutral.”

To do this, they first had a focus group discussion with regular music listeners. They were given 14 musical genre, and they all had to talk and agree on one song that best represented each genre. The songs they chose can be found in the YouTube playlist below.

The participants of the study were first asked to listen to all 14 songs, then were asked to rate each song, from extremely disliked to extremely liked. Of course, the song with the highest liking score corresponded to the participant’s liked music, lowest liking score for disliked music, and score closest to 50 for neutrally liked music.

The gelato that the participants were asked to taste varied. They were all chocolate gelati but of different flavors: Dark Chocolate, Bittersweet Chocolate, and Milk Chocolate.

After identifying the participant’s liked, disliked, and neutrally-liked music, specific instructions were given to them for the experiment proper. Music was played (Except for one condition, the silent condition, where no music was played.) Then, after a while, they are told to taste the gelato given to them (they don’t know which flavor was given) and they are asked to rate the sensations they felt from when the gelato first enters their mouth until they had to swallow it.

This method is called TDS or Temporal Dominance of Sensations. The sensations that the participants had to rate were: sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, sourness, and umami. They were asked to say which sensation was dominant at a specific time, and they had to rate the intensity. Basically, a dominating sensation is the one that captures one’s attention. For example, when you eat Sour Tape candy, the dominant sensation would probably be sourness, then when all the sour powder is gone, the dominant sensation would probably be sweetness from the candy.

Apart from the sensations, they also asked the participants to rate the pleasantness of the gelati and to rate their own emotions.

Are you excited to know the results? Well, here it is!

First, for the emotion of the person: They found that emotions varied depending on the music that they were listening to. When one listens to liked music, it increases positive emotions, and of course, disliked music increases negative emotions.

Now, for the perceived pleasantness of the gelato, they found that music does affect perceived pleasantness. There was no significant difference when there was no music, but, the ratings were significantly higher for the gelato that was eaten while liked music was playing.

Now, for the dominant tastes the participants perceived: of the five sensations given, the participants only identified two to be dominant: sweetness and bitterness. This makes sense because of course, they are eating chocolate gelato.

After comparing the perceptions of sweetness and bitterness across time (depending on music listened to and gelato flavor), they found that listening to disliked music generally makes the gelato (regardless of flavor) less pleasant. Compared to the other conditions, listening to disliked music increases the dominance of bitterness in dark chocolate and milk chocolate gelato and shifts bitterness perception to an earlier time in bittersweet gelato. Liked and neutral music, on the other hand, generally makes the gelato (regardless of flavor) more pleasant. Perception of sweetness increased when liked or neutral music was playing.

What’s really interesting is that, when liked music is played, and when the participant is eating milk chocolate gelato, the participant does not note ever sensing bitterness throughout the whole time they ate it. The researchers think that it’s because of a congruency effect. Basically, because the liked gelato sample was paired with the liked music, perception was positive.

Although this study was only on gelato, and focused on only sweet and bitter tastes, I think that it already says a lot about how we experience food, and I think that it emphasizes the importance of ambience in restaurants. I think restaurant owners should also take this new information into consideration for their place.

I won’t say any more, because I know that you now want to buy some gelato and play your favorite song. Enjoy and have fun!

Reference

Kantono, K., Hamid, N., Shepherd, D., Yoo, M. J., Grazioli, G., & Carr, B. T. (2016). Listening to music can influence hedonic and sensory perceptions of gelati. Appetite, 100, 244-255. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.02.143

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Sonic Taste: Beer is Better with Beats! (By Stanley Magno)

The Brussels Beer Project recently collaborated with various universities and researchers to conduct a studies on how music influences perceptions of beer. Carvalho, Velasco, van Ee, Leboeuf, & Spence, (2016)  found that out of 231 participants, those placed under conditions that drank beer with an accompanying sonic stimuli rated the beer to taste better and reported their experience as more pleasurable compared to their peers without sonic stimuli.

What was interesting about this research is not only the findings but the thoroughness with which they conducted the design. The researchers intimately collaborated with the UK band “The Editors” to test whether they could really “embody” a song in a brewed beer product.

The beer they used, “Salvation” beer, was a limited edition brew that was especially crafted for the experiment’s purposes. They patterned the dark, malty taste of the beer after consultations and creative collaborations with the band to “blend both identities into one final beer product”. While an impressive exercise in collaboration and design, this may prove to be a key factor in testing whether or not participants enjoyed the beer more, due to the beer being especially crafted for this testing purpose. It would be interesting to see how other beers would fare up to tests of sonic stimuli and ratings as well.

Reference

Carvalho, F. R., Velasco, C., van Ee, R., Leboeuf, Y., & Spence, C. (2016). Music influences hedonic and taste ratings in beer. Frontiers in psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00636

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Influence of Background Music on Sensory Perception and Acceptance of Food (by G Wilwayco)

When I walk into any restaurant or food establishment,  one of the first things I notice is the music playing. Along with the aesthetic of the interiors, the place’s playlist immediately sets the mood.

Is the management’s choice of music by coincidence or carefully curated? One group of researchers attempted to find out.

Past research has come up with evidence to account for the facts that different music genres elicit different emotions and that these emotions affect sensory perception, pleasantness, and food choice. Given this, Fiegel, Meullenet, Harrington, Humble, and Seo (2014) wanted to find out the influence of background sound on sensory perception and acceptance of foods. Further, they wanted to determine the influences as function of the type of food (emotional food vs. non-emotional food).

The results showed that the participants’ overall impression for food stimuli varied depending on the genre of background music. Participants rated food significantly more pleasant when they listened to jazz music as compared to hiphop music. This difference could be explained by the different emotions elicited from jazz music, which is more reflective and complex, versus hiphop music which is more energetic and rhythmic. Furthermore, they found that emotional food, in this case, chocolate was found to rated even more pleasant than non-emotional food, in this case, bell peppers. This was attributed to the research that sweet and fatty foods are more suitable to modulating mood and emotion.  

However, one issue that the researchers overlooked in their study could be effect of the participants’ individual preference for music. Nevertheless, the results of Fiegel et al’s study have its implications and therefore can be applied in real life situations. Businesses have come to realize the value of multi-sensory experience in presenting their brands. They’ve come to realize the importance of identifying the links between the different senses that work when consumers interact with them and their brand. Studies like this have implications on how businesses can better cater to their customers’ wants and needs, and it’s interesting to see the creative and innovative solutions they come up with after taking results like this into consideration.

Reference

Fiegel, A., Meullenet, J. F., Harrington, R. J., Humble, R., & Seo, H. S. (2014). Background music genre can modulate flavor pleasantness and overall impression of food stimuli. Appetite, 76, 144-152. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2014.01.079

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The Sound of Chocolate (by Arla Salcedo)

Ah, chocolate. What could be better than having a bite (or two) of its rich, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness? According to a study published last January 2017 in the journal Appetite, having it while listening to a “creamy” soundtrack as compared to a “rough” soundtrack transforms the experience into an even more indulgent one.

Previous research has shown that music affects our perception of basic taste qualities, such as sweetness and bitterness. The study’s authors, Carvalho, Wang, Van Ee, Persoone, and Spence, wanted to take a step further and determine whether music also affects our perception of other aspects of flavor, such as crunchiness and creaminess.

To do this, the authors first made -- you guessed it -- chocolate. They conducted pilot studies together with professional chocolatiers from The Chocolate Line factory in Bruges, Belgium and came up with two chocolate formulas: 71% cocoa and 80% cocoa (the formulas had to be milk-free to be similar in color). They added more variety by molding each formula into two shapes: round and angular, based on the finding that sweeter chocolates are usually associated with round shapes, while more bitter chocolates are usually associated with angular shapes.

All in all, four chocolate types were created:

Next, the authors worked on the music. Their starting point was a study done by Eitan and Rothschild in 2010. These researchers found that soft/smooth sounds are usually associated with long, consonant, connected notes, while hard/rough sounds are usually associated with short, dissonant, separated notes. These researchers also found that the sound of a violin is likely to be judged as rougher than the sound of a flute.

Thus, Carvalho and his team produced two soundtracks that were confirmed by 65 people to resemble rough music and creamy music. The soundtracks can be heard on http://tinyurl.com/creaminess-chocolate.  

Carvalho and his team then asked 116 people to answer a 3-step online survey. In the first step, they were instructed to drink water before eating each chocolate and to let the chocolates melt inside their mouths naturally (without chewing them). In the second step, they tasted a piece of bitter chocolate and rated how much they liked it and how sweet, bitter, and creamy they thought it was. Here, they did not listen to any soundtrack. It was in the third and last step that they were randomly assigned to one of the four chocolate types (Angular 71% cocoa, Round 71% cocoa, Angular 80% cocoa, Round, 71% cocoa). They tasted the same chocolate twice, each time listening to one of the two soundtracks. Afterwards, they rated how much they liked the chocolate and how sweet, bitter, and creamy they thought it was on a scale of 1 to 7 (1 being “Not at all” and 7 being “Very much”). They also rated how much they liked each soundtrack and how much they thought it matched the taste of the chocolate, again on a scale of 1 to 7. The experiment took place on the ninth floor of of the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, Belgium.

The creamy soundtrack enhanced the perceived creaminess of the chocolates and was thought to match the taste more than the rough soundtrack. Interestingly though, the people enjoyed the chocolates just the same regardless of the soundtrack.

Carvalho and his team decided to subdivide them into soundtrack preference: those who preferred the creamy soundtrack more than the rough soundtrack, and vice versa. They observed that the more the people liked the creamy soundtrack, the more they liked the chocolate and the creamier they thought it was while listening to the creamy soundtrack.

What this means is that the feelings we have about music can be carried over to the food we eat. For food industry professionals, this might be the next step to making good food even better. For chocolate lovers, the melt-in-your-mouth experience can now be elevated with the right music.

Reference

Carvalho, F. R., Wang, Q. J., van Ee, R., Persoone, D., & Spence, C. (2017). “Smooth operator”: Music modulates the perceived creaminess, sweetness, and bitterness of chocolate. Appetite, 108, 383-390. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.10.026

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Containers matter: Why you should care where you place your drinks (by Ina Aguirre)

Those who know me know that I love coffee. Not only because it keeps me up when I have to cram, but because of its flavor. But I’ve learned that there’s more to drinks than just the taste. It’s about the whole experience ‒ where you’re drinking, who you’re drinking with, what you’re drinking from. But right now, I’ll focus on what you’re drinking from: the container.

Proof I love coffee ^_^

Photos taken by Ina Aguirre

We associate colors with different kinds of tastes and flavors, and this is supported by research. Drinks in pink containers are perceived to be sweet as compared to transparent ones (Schifferstein, as cited in Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence, 2012). Increasing the yellow of a 7 Up increases perception of a lemony flavor (Cheskin, 1957, as cited in Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence, 2012).

Research has also focused on color and coffee. Here are some of the generalizations from some experiments (Dichter; Favre & November, as cited in Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence, 2012).

Yellow is associated with weak flavor of coffee.

Brown is associated with strong/bold flavor of coffee.

Red is associated with rich flavor of coffee.

Blue is associated with mild flavor of coffee.

Our focus, however, will be on a more recent study by Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence (2012), wherein they looked at the effects of color of a plastic cup on the perception of hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate, photo taken by Ina Aguirre

In their experiment, they gave their participants four plastic cups: white, dark cream, orange (white inside), and red. These colors were chosen because they’re the usual cup colors in vending machines. Each cup was filled with either sweetened or unsweetened hot chocolate. The participants were asked to taste each drink and to rate the drink’s sweetness, bitterness, chocolate flavor, chocolate aroma, creaminess, and overall liking. They rinsed their mouth with water between each tasting of the drink. They then ran some tests to see if color indeed affects the perception of the drink.

The four cups in Piqueras-Fiszman & Spence’s (2012) experiment

Their major results are listed below:

Liking: Overall, participants liked the drink in the orange cup significantly more than in the white cup.

Chocolate Flavor: The participants rated the chocolate flavor as significantly more intense in the orange cup than in the red or white cups.

Sweetness: Although there were no significant results, the chocolate from the dark creme cup was rated the sweetest, followed by the white cup. The least sweet was the chocolate from the red cup.

We can see from these results that the hot chocolate in the orange cups were seen to be the best, as seen in the significant results of overall liking and the chocolate flavor.

The results were quite surprising for the experimenters! Redness is generally associated with sweetness, and green with sourness, according to many researchers. They say that this is because we associate these colors with fruit ripening. Green, sour fruits usually turn into red, sweet fruits. Because of this, they thought that the hot chocolate from the red cups would be perceived as sweet, but it turns out that it was even the least sweet for the participants.

This experiment shows that the associations of color and food or drinks are not universal. Red may mean sweet for fruits, but not for drinks and other kinds of food. It’s interesting to see that different colors have different effects depending on what food. This can be seen in the initial example above, where yellow for 7 Up translates to lemony while yellow for coffee translates to weak flavors.

It’s amazing to see that our experience of the food and drinks around us do not only depend on the taste itself, but many other factors. I never really thought about the colors of the containers I use when I drink, but now I think I will!

Reference

Piqueras‐Fiszman, B., & Spence, C. (2012). The influence of the color of the cup on consumers' perception of a hot beverage. Journal of Sensory Studies, 27(5), 324-331. doi:10.1111/j.1745-459X.2012.00397.x

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Seeing red: Avoidance towards unhealthy food (by Jimo Mantaring)

Imagine yourself after a good morning workout, when suddenly your stomach starts to rumble. The first thing to come to your mind is to grab a snack. So you check your refrigerator and kitchen cupboard to see what delicious snack could satisfy your hunger. You see chocolate bars stacked neatly on the side, bags of chips idly waiting to be opened, noodles waiting to be fried. While pondering on what to eat, you realize that these snacks aren’t the healthiest for you. Your morning exercise would all be nothing for then if you eat any of these snacks. You wouldn’t reach your goal of fitting in those old jeans of yours. But you can’t help but think of the savoriness of all these snacks. What do you do then?

Make it red.

You may ask yourself, what does color have to do with having a healthier eating lifestyle? Well colors have always had different influences on us in different contexts of our everyday lives. The most evident of how colors affect our judgement is in a stop light. It’s common knowledge that when you see green it means go, and when you see red it means stop. Well what if you can apply this same concept on how you choose food, whether it’s healthy or unhealthy. That’s what psychologists, Michaela Rohr, Friederike Kamm, Joerg Koenigstorfer, Andrea Groeppel-Klein, and Dirk Wentura, wanted to find out.

Stoplights are a common example on how the meanings of color can affect our behavior.

In 2015, Rohr and her colleagues conducted an experiment to see if the implicit meaning of red and green could have an effect on how one would approach or avoid food in the context of whether the food is healthy or not. Participants were shown in a computer drawings of food that were healthy (e.g. fruits and vegetables) and unhealthy (e.g. sweets and oily food). They would slide their mouse towards themselves (approach) when they saw that the food was healthy and away (avoidance) when they saw it as unhealthy. The drawings were also presented with a red or green circle, similar to that of a traffic light. The PC then recorded the reaction times of the participants when correctly categorizing the food shown to them; this was used as the researchers’ basis for analyzing their data.

An example of what the researchers presented to the participants.

What did the researchers find? They found that the participants would approach more the healthy food and avoid the unhealthy food. Also, the color red was associated with avoidance behavior while green was associated with approach behavior. Interestingly, it was only the color red that added to the avoidance behavior towards unhealthy food. The color green did not have an effect on how the participants approached healthy food. When the researchers tried switching the color red with pink and green with blue, they did not get the same results. This shows that approaching or avoiding healthy or unhealthy food could be influenced by a traffic-light color context.

Now that you’ve seen the results, you can now apply it yourself. If you want to avoid eating those unhealthy food, you can mark them red so you know to avoid them. It would be a reminder for you to eat healthier food and not put to waste that good morning exercise you had.

You can also use your knowledge of color meaning when buying food for yourself. There are so many brands and labels that make use of red or green in marketing their products. It’s possible that brands would make use of the color green to market their unhealthy food. It’s also possible that other brands made us of green colors to market their healthy food. Think first on what type of food you want to buy and what to avoid. It would be helpful also to research what types of food are good for you and not. It will make your decision on purchasing food much easier and at the same time you won’t be tricked into buying food that could be unhealthy for you.

Now that you know what the color red can do in terms of what you choose to eat, nothing can stop you from having a healthier lifestyle (and fitting in your old pair of jeans)!

Reference

Rohr, M., Kamm, F., Koenigstorfer, J., Groeppel-Klein, A., & Wentura, D. (2015). The color red supports avoidance reactions to unhealthy food. Experimental Psychology, 62(5), 335-345. doi:10.1027/1618-3169/a000299

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Colored Lighting Found to Have an Effect on Food Consumption of Men (by Gabrielle Wilwayco)

Ask any chef who painstakingly prepares a meal right before it is served, and I’m sure he or she would agree that we eat with our eyes first before our mouths. How any food looks like, and subsequently, the conditions in which it is served under, have effects on our perceptions and behaviors toward the food.

Visual cues, such as surface color, have been used as an indicator of food quality. Taking an evolutionary and ecological standpoint, the mechanism of color vision in animals has varied depending on what the animal needed to survive. Each animal species’ retinal cone pigments has evolved to make searching for food easier and more efficient. For the human species, trichromatic color vision, which is a theory that explains how we see colors, was said to have evolved to help our ancestors find food to sustain themselves.

Humans have also learned the correct color codes for when food should be consumed.

Another visual cue, lighting illuminance, has also been studied. It was found that soft or dim lighting in a restaurant led its patrons to spend more time in the place and also to order additional food. No wonder fast-food restaurants are so brightly-lit while fancy restaurants are most of the time dimly-lit. However, brightness levels weren’t the only aspect of lighting that seemed to affect perception and behavior. Colors of ambient lighting was found to modulate consumers’ perception of certain food. A study was done testing participants’ acceptability of bell peppers under colored lighting, and it was found that yellow lighting increased consumers’ acceptance the most, while blue lighting produced the least effect.

Drawing on previous studies, Cho and colleagues (2014) wanted to determine whether color of lighting can modulate not only overall flavor intensity and overall impression of the food, but also amount of food consumed. Effect of lighting color on food perception and consumption was also compared between men and women. This was based on previous observations that 2 sexes differ in brain activity when presented with food. Women, compared to men, showed greater brain activity in parts of the brain also associated with inhibitory control and self-controlling. However, I think this is interesting because this might have been learned response, as more societal pressure has been put on women to maintain certain weights. I mean come on, there’s a “dad bod” phenomenon where photos of men with big stomachs are seen as attractive, but I don’t see the same for women!

As for the experiment itself, 62 men and 50 women made up the group of 112 volunteers who participated. They were assigned to one of three lighting groups: white, yellow, or blue. The experimenters standardized the illuminance levels for each lighting group to make sure that the brightness of the light wouldn’t affect the results. For the food samples, the experimenters used ready-to-eat ham and cheese omelets and mini pancakes bought from the supermarket. This ensured that the participants received the same food since mass-produced food products undergo strict quality control before being shipped out from the factory.

Experimental set-up with three lighting conditions: meal served under (a) white, (b) yellow, and (3) blue lighting.

Prior to the experiment itself, participants were asked to refrain from eating any food or beverage, except water, for 12 hours before participating in the study. This was done so that the difference between the participants’ hunger levels would not affect the results. While to avoid any expectations about the meal, the participants were not told about what type of meal or kind of food they would be having.

Before being served a meal, participants rated their current hunger/fullness status on a scale ranging from 1 (extremely hungry) to 9 (extremely full) and their current mood from 1 (extremely bad) to 9 (extremely good). On average, participants reported that they were ���very hungry” and that they felt “slightly good.”

After being served the meal but before actually eating it, participants rated their willingness to eat the meal on a range from 1 (extremely unwilling) to 9 (extremely willing) and their hedonic impression of the overall appearance of the meal from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely).

The experimenters then instructed the participants to eat as much as they wanted. As soon as they were finished, participants were asked to rate the following: overall flavor intensity from 1 (extremely weak) to 9 (extremely strong), overall impression from 1 (dislike extremely) to 9 (like extremely), and current hunger/fullness status from 1 (extremely hungry) to 9 (extremely full). To determine the amount of food eaten by each participant, the amount of food left unconsumed was weighed. The weight difference between the served meal and the leftovers was referred to as the “meal size.”  

The experimenters chose omelets and pancakes as they are said to be part of a staple American breakfast. If the study was conducted in the Philippines, maybe?

The analysis of the results color of lighting did not have a significant influence on willingness to eat. This finding isn’t consistent with previous studies’ findings that lighting affected willingness to eat. However, it could be because of 2 reasons: 1. previous studies used pictures of food instead of actual food placed in front of the participants, and 2. Participants’ willingness to eat was measured after 12 hours of fasting and right before they were about to eat. Now I don’t know about you, but if there was food right in front of me after 12 hours of having none, I’d also still be willing to eat!

Although no effect was found on willingness to eat, color lighting did have a significant influence on the hedonic impression of the overall appearance of the meal. Hedonic ratings of the overall appearance of the meal were significantly less under blue lighting than under yellow or white lighting; while there was no significant difference between yellow and white lighting. This could be because naturally-occurring blue-colored food are rare, and so humans may doubt its safety for consumption. This feeling of uncertainty may have affected the participants, which resulted in a lower hedonic impression of the overall appearance of the meal.  

Neither lighting color nor gender had a significant effect on overall flavor intensity, overall impression, and post-hunger/fullness status. There was also no significant interaction between lighting color and gender in the ratings of the meal’s overall flavor intensity, impression, and post-hunger/fullness status. Color lighting having no effect on flavor intensity and on overall liking of food could be explained because flavor intensity and overall liking is mediated by numerous other sensory cues, such as flavor, taste, and texture, and not only by surface color. On the other hand, color lighting’s insignificant effect on post-hunger/fullness status could be attributed to the timing of the rating. Since fullness was rated immediately after the participants ate, the brain would not have yet had the time to receive the satiety-related signals.

However, the results showed a significant interaction of lighting color and gender on meal size (which was measured by weight of meal served minus weight of leftovers). Men ate significantly less of the meal served under blue lighting than under yellow and white lighting. One explanation for this could be connected with women’s superiority in the detection, discrimination, identification, and memory of odor cues. Since participants were exposed to meal while they rated its hedonic impression on them and their willingness to eat it, they were also exposed to its smell and therefore able to pick up orthonasal odor cues (odors smelled through the nose). Due to women’s outperformance of men in identifying and discriminating orders and due to women’s attentiveness to olfactory cues on a day-to-day set-up, there is an expectation that women would be better at deciding whether food is safe to eat, regardless of the color lighting it is presented under. On the contrary, since men have a less sensitive sense of smell, they seem to be more dependent on visual cues, and therefore are more affected by the color lighting that the food was served under.

But as with any study, findings should be interpreted with caution to the limitations of the method used. The researchers acknowledge that color lighting may have affected mood or emotional state that might have influenced the results. It could be a possibility that blue lighting might have induced a negative mood in men, decreasing sensitivity in their ability to smell, and in turn, might have led to a smaller amount of food eaten.

Despite the limitations, practical applications could still be drawn from the results of the study. One application could be for the reduction of food intake of obese or overweight men since blue lighting was found to reduce amount of food eaten, but not necessarily the overall impression of the meal.

Reference

Cho, S., Han, A., Taylor, M. H., Huck, A. C., Mishler, A. M., Mattal, K. L., Barker, C. A., & Han-Seok, S. (2014). Blue lighting decreases the amount of food consumed in men, but not in women. Appetite, 85, 111-117. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.11.020

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It’s All in the Bag (by Arla Salcedo)

Imagine that you are shopping at a supermarket. What comes to your mind? Most likely, you see yourself in the middle of an aisle, focused, as you scan the seemingly endless shelves of food.

Let’s say that you are shopping for a party. On the top of your list is chips, so you go to chips aisle and behold:

Lays heaven.

Now you’re probably thinking: What flavor should I get? There’s so many to choose from!

Thankfully, packers and merchandisers make the task easier for us by color-coordinating food. Imagine if bags of chips of the same color were not placed together; if bags of chips were almost every possible color -- with no system whatsoever.

Thus you decide to get barbecue.

Now all that’s left for you to do is get one and put it inside your cart. Easy. But what if the packaging of the barbecue-flavored Lays was not black, as you would expect it to be? How would such a mismatch between the flavor and the color of the chips’ packaging affect your search for it? This is the question that Velasco and coworkers (2015) sought to answer. 

Velasco and coworkers’ inquiry was based on the Stroop effect -- the interference that comes from a mismatch between a word (e.g., a color name) and the color in which the word is presented. To illustrate, try reading the following words:

Now try reading the colors of the following words:

Which task was harder and took longer for you to do? It wouldn’t be surprising if it was the second. Velasco and coworkers wanted to know if the same thing would happen for flavor labels and packaging color. To do so, they created a fictitious chips brand called Crispies with five flavors (barbecue, chicken, cucumber, lemon, and tomato) and five packaging colors (burgundy, orange, green, yellow, and red). These flavors and colors were selected based on an earlier study by Velasco and coworkers (2014).

The present study consisted of two experiments. In the first experiment, 12 participants from mainland China were asked to complete two tasks (the order of which was counterbalanced). In one task, the participants first saw a target flavor label on a computer monitor. After a few milliseconds, they saw a display of four Crispies where the target was either present or absent. If it was present, it was either in a matched packaging color (e.g., barbecue in burgundy) or a mismatched packaging color (e.g., barbecue in orange). Their task was to press a key if the target was in the display.

In the other task, the participants again first saw a target flavor label on a computer monitor. After a few milliseconds, however, they saw one Crispies (instead of four). Their task was still to press a key, but this time if the Crispies presented was the target.

The second experiment was similar to the first. However, Velasco and coworkers (2015) added extra elements: set size and the strength of the association between a flavor and a color (the flavor tomato, for instance, is strongly associated with the color red). The researchers wanted to know if these factors would affect your search as well.

Here, 20 participants from mainland China saw a target flavor label followed by a display of three, six, or nine Crispies. The Crispies were still either matched or mismatched. Their task was to press a key if the target was in the display.

The results of both experiments were as expected: There was a Stroop-like effect. Overall, the participants made more mistakes and responded slower (1) when there was a mismatch between flavor labels and packaging color; (2) when set size was larger; and (3) when the flavor was strongly associated with the color.

This just goes to show how useful perception research is in our everyday lives. Just think: How long would it take you to find the barbecue-flavored Lays if it was in different packaging colors? Or if barbecue-flavored chips could be in blue, pink, or even purple bags? Indeed, perception research does not only help marketing practitioners design products effectively; it also makes the world simpler for us.

Reference

Velasco, C., Wan, X., Knoeferle, K., Zhou, X., Salgado-Montejo, A., & Spence, C. (2015). Searching for flavor labels in food products: the influence of color-flavor congruence and association strength. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 301. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00301

Image for the Stroop Effect retrieved from https://imotions.com/blog/the-stroop-effect/

Images and GIF retrieved from Lays Grocery Aisle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9cRfYebzOM

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Watch your plate! New study shows that you eat more when your plate color matches the color of your food (by Stanley Magno)

Koert Van Ittersum and Brian Wansink (2012) had 60 lunch goers attend a buffet that served either white sauce or red sauce on a pasta dish. The plate that was given to the lunch goers was also varied: they either received a white or red plate. The researchers found that when the lunch goer’s plates matched their pasta sauce, they tended to get more food!

If a lunch goer got a red plate and served themselves red pasta, they got more food. This was also the same for lunch goers who got a white plate and got white pasta, compared to the other lunch goers whose plates were a different color from their food. Why is this so? The researchers speculate it’s due to the Delboeuf Illusion, which states that circles that are actually of similar size will be perceived to be of different size when surrounded by large or small outlines:

Let the red center circle represent the food serving size. Which circle seems larger? Most would say that the center circle on the left is smaller. The two are actually the same size. It appears that the plate on the right has a larger serving size, due to the fact that low-contrast situations makes it harder to notice the actual size.

Keep that in mind when buying new dinnerware! It really is true that we eat with our eyes. 

Reference

Van Ittersum, K., & Wansink, B. (2012). Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion’s Bias on Serving and Eating Behavior. Journal Of Consumer Research, 39(2), 215-228. doi:10.1086/662615