Delivering context for fragrance evaluation: A study using trained sensory panellists

Abstract

Extensive research has been carried out to investigate the effect of context (such as the external environment) on product perception, with previous studies focusing on food or beverage products using naïve consumers. However, it is still unclear whether context affects assessments made by trained panellists when testing fragranced stimuli. Options for conducting sensory testing outside of traditional sensory booths would allow for greater ecological validity and enable sensory testing to become more agile and flexible, with this need becoming even more important as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The current research set out to establish whether context has an effect on the perception of fragranced products using a trained sensory panel by testing 5 laundry market products under different context environments (No Context, Imagine, Visual Cue, Priming, Immersive). Statistically significant contextual effects were only observed for two out of the eleven attributes tested (Overall intensity and Herbal). Additional analyses using PCA showed that the same products were grouped together, whereas groupings by context were not observed. These findings suggest that perception of fragranced laundry products is not significantly impacted by different contexts when assessed by trained panellists. One possible explanation is that panellist training removes any influence of the external environment on product perception. Future studies could explore whether other contextual parameters have a greater influence on fragrance perception for trained panellists.