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The influence of extrinsic hand-feel touch cues on consumer experiences in food and beverage consumption is well established. However, their impact on trigeminal perception, particularly the oral irritation caused by capsaicin or spicy foods, is less understood. This study aimed to determine the existence of cross-modal associations between hand-feel touch and capsaicin-induced oral irritation. This study investigated whether these potential associations were driven by the sensory contributions of the hand-feel tactile materials (measured by instrumental physical parameters) or by affective responses (evaluated through hedonic scales and the self-reported emotion questionnaire, EsSense Profile®, by consumers). In our study, 96 participants tasted a capsaicin solution while engaging with nine hand-feel tactile materials, i.e., cardboard, linen, rattan, silicone, stainless steel, sandpaper (fine), sandpaper (rough), sponge, and towel. They subsequently rated their liking and emotional responses, perceived intensity of oral irritation, and the congruency between hand-feel tactile sensation and oral irritation. Instrumental measurements characterized the surface texture of the hand-feel tactile materials, which were correlated with the collected sensory data. The results revealed that unique cross-modal associations between hand-feel touch and capsaicin-induced oral irritation. Specifically, while sandpapers demonstrated high congruence with the sensation of oral irritation, stainless steel was found to be least congruent. These associations were influenced by both the common emotional responses ("active," "aggressive," "daring," "energetic," "guilty," and "worried") evoked by the hand-feel tactile materials and the capsaicin, as well as by participants' liking for the hand-feel tactile materials and the characteristics of the surface textures. This study provides empirical evidence of the cross-modality between hand-feel tactile sensations and capsaicin-induced oral irritation, opening new avenues for future research in this area.

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To encourage children to frequently consume wild blueberries as part of their dietary patterns, incorporating blueberry powder into specific foods may be an effective strategy. Thus, it is important to determine appropriate types of food products that both minimize food processing-induced loss of beneficial components of blueberries (e.g., anthocyanins) and satisfy at the same time both nutritional and sensory aspects. For clinical studies assessing the health benefits of blueberry-containing food samples, it would be important to ensure children consume the entire portion of the test samples. This study, therefore, aimed at determining how sensory acceptability (liking) and psychological reward (wanting) of wild blueberry-based foods vary over multiple steps of ad libitum consumption: appearance, first bite/sip, half bite/sip, and full consumption. Five different types of foods containing the targeted amount of wild blueberry powder were prepared for sensory testing (oatmeal bar, beverage, ice pop, gummy, and cookie), and the residual amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid were measured to confirm levels targeted to deliver bioactive amounts of these phytochemicals. Results showed that while overall liking and desire to eat did not differ among the five samples at the appearance and first bite/sip steps, they differed significantly at the end of consumption. Although children liked and wanted to consume the cookies more when compared to beverages, ice pops, and/or gummies, total anthocyanin contents were lower in cookies and gummies than in wild blueberry powder, beverage, and ice pop samples. Notably, the oatmeal bars with significant amounts of total anthocyanin and chlorogenic acid did not significantly differ from the cookies with respect to overall liking, desire to eat, and the amount consumed. In conclusion, this study shows that sensory evaluation using multiple bites/sips of ad libitum food consumption, along with a measurement of beneficial compounds, is efficient in determining appropriate vehicles for clinical studies of wild blueberry-containing foods.

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There has been a great deal of research investigating intrinsic/extrinsic cues and their influences on consumer perception and purchasing decisions at points of sale, product usage, and consumption. Consumers create expectations toward a food product through sensory information extracted from its surface (intrinsic cues) or packaging (extrinsic cues) at retail stores. Packaging is one of the important extrinsic cues that can modulate consumer perception, liking, and decision making of a product. For example, handling a product packaging during consumption, even just touching the packaging while opening or holding it during consumption, may result in a consumer expectation of the package content. Although hand-feel touch cues are an integral part of the food consumption experience, as can be observed in such an instance, little has been known about their influences on consumer perception, acceptability, and purchase behavior of food products. This review therefore provided a better understanding about hand-feel touch cues and their influences in the context of food and beverage experience with a focus on (1) an overview of touch as a sensory modality, (2) factors influencing hand-feel perception, (3) influences of hand-feel touch cues on the perception of other sensory modalities, and (4) the effects of hand-feel touch cues on emotional responses and purchase behavior.

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Temperatures of most hot or cold meal items change over the period of consumption, possibly influencing sensory perception of those items. Unlike temporal variations in sensory attributes, product temperature-induced variations have not received much attention. Using a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) method, this study aimed to characterize variations in sensory attributes over a wide range of temperatures at which hot or cold foods and beverages may be consumed. Cooked milled rice, typically consumed at temperatures between 70 and 30°C in many rice-eating countries, was used as a target sample in this study. Two brands of long-grain milled rice were cooked and randomly presented at 70, 60, 50, 40, and 30°C. Thirty-five CATA terms for cooked milled rice were generated. Eighty-eight untrained panelists were asked to quickly select all the CATA terms that they considered appropriate to characterize sensory attributes of cooked rice samples presented at each temperature. Proportions of selection by panelists for 13 attributes significantly differed among the five temperature conditions. "Product temperature-dependent sensory-attribute variations" differed with two brands of milled rice grains. Such variations in sensory attributes, resulted from both product temperature and rice brand, were more pronounced among panelists who more frequently consumed rice. In conclusion, the CATA method can be useful for characterizing "product temperature-dependent sensory attribute variations" in cooked milled-rice samples. Further study is needed to examine whether the CATA method is also effective in capturing "product temperature-dependent sensory-attribute variations" in other hot or cold foods and beverages.

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Coffee and green tea are popular beverages consumed at both hot and cold temperatures. When people consume hot beverages concurrently with other activities, they may experience at different temperatures over the period of consumption. However, there has been limited research investigating the effects of product temperatures on emotional responses and sensory attributes of beverages. This study aimed to determine whether emotional responses to, and sensory attributes of, brewed coffee and green tea vary as a function of sample temperature. Using a check-all-that-apply (CATA) method, 157 participants (79 for coffee and 78 for green tea) were asked to evaluate either coffee or green tea samples served at cold (5°C), ambient (25°C), and hot (65°C) temperatures with respect to emotional responses and sensory attributes. The results showed that sample temperature could have significant influences on emotional responses to, and sensory attributes of, coffee and green tea samples. More specifically, 6 and 18 sensory attributes of coffee and green tea samples, respectively, significantly differed with sample temperature. Beverage samples evaluated at 65°C were characterized, regardless of activation/arousal level, by positive emotional responses terms and favorable sensory attributes. While beverages evaluated at 25°C were associated more with negative emotional responses with low activation/arousal, those evaluated at 5°C were more frequently characterized as having negative emotional responses with high activation/arousal. Sensory and emotional drivers of liking for both coffee and green tea differed both with sample temperature and gender. While both emotional responses and sensory attributes were identified as drivers of liking among females, only emotional responses were identified as drivers of liking among males. In conclusion, this study provides empirical evidence that both emotional responses to, and sensory attributes of, coffee and green tea beverages can vary with sample temperatures. To provide a better understanding of product characteristics, emotional responses to, and sensory attributes of, coffee or green tea beverages should be tested over a wider range of product temperatures.