Impacts of sensory attributes and emotional responses on the hedonic ratings of odors in dairy products.
Consumers often decide to purchase certain items as a result of prompt emotional responses evoked by the products; therefore, it is important to investigate the emotional responses stimulated by food samples, as well as the sensory attributes of the products. The aim of this study was to examine influences of sensory attribute and emotional response on olfactory hedonic ratings of dairy products. Additionally, we compared this effect between women and men subjects. Sensory attributes of six natural odors produced by commercial dairy products were evaluated by 9 trained panelists. In addition, 100 untrained panelists (50 women and 50 men) rated the emotional response stimulated by the 6 odors using 25 paired semantic differential scales and the hedonicity using a 9 cm line scale, respectively. Untrained panelists more liked "sweet aromatics," "sour aromatics," "fermented aromatics," and "rich aromatics" over the other sensory attributes of dairy products. The olfactory hedonic ratings were increased when the odor was more characterized as "fragrant," "attractive," "comfortable," "familiar," "faint," "natural," or "modern." Specific sensory attributes were found to be related to specific adjective pairs representing the emotional response. Moreover, the ratings of adjective pairs representing emotional response of odors and their influences on hedonic ratings differed significantly between sexes. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the emotional responses as well as the sensory attributes affect the hedonic ratings of odors in dairy products.
Seo
Han-Seok
HS
Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Human Ecology, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Youngsun
Y
Yoon
Na-Rae
NR
Song
Jeong Min
JM
Shin
Jeong-Min
JM
Lee
Seung-Yeon
SY
Hwang
Inkyeong
I
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003611:Dairy Products / Q000032:analysis*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005285:Fermentation; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D012677:Sensation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012903:Smell