Abstract
Prior research using immersive technology has shown that consumption contexts can be successfully recreated to elicit effects on hedonic food evaluations, but the food-specificity of these effects is as of yet unclear. The current study investigates how repeated exposure to foods in congruent and incongruent immersive contexts affects hedonic perception over time. Two groups of participants (N = 23, N = 18) were exposed to three food products (sushi, popsicle and iced tea) in either an immersive beach context or an immersive sushi restaurant context for seven days. On the eighth day, participants were exposed to the same foods once more, but switched to the other context. Hedonic evaluations were collected prior to and during tasting at initial exposure (day 1), after repeated exposure to the same context (day 7) and in the switched context (day 8); consumption behavior was monitored on exposure days (days 2–6). Results showed that prior to tasting, expected liking and desire to eat were higher for congruent food-context combinations (popsicle at the beach, sushi in the sushi restaurant) than for incongruent combinations (popsicle in the sushi restaurant, sushi at the beach). Upon tasting, no differences were found in average food liking, but individual liking ratings for congruent (vs. incongruent) food-context combinations were more consistent over time. Immersive contexts also elicited general effects, such that a typical consumption environment (sushi restaurant) increased food consumption and yielded more consistent product liking ratings over time. Findings underline the importance of taking a holistic view on consumer testing, and showcase the potential of immersive technology.
Highlights
In traditional central location tests, participants evaluate products in isolated sensory booths where everything is as standardized as possible and non-product contextual information is intentionally minimized
Rather than further validating the methodology, the current study aims to demonstrate the potential of immersive technology in consumer testing by examining the conditions under which immersive consump tion environments influence hedonic food perception
Food-specific context effects were found on food evaluations, such that the same immersive context affected hedonic food evaluations in opposite directions depending on food-context congruity
Summary
In traditional central location tests, participants evaluate products in isolated sensory booths where everything is as standardized as possible (i.e., temperature, light conditions, sound etc.) and non-product contextual information is intentionally minimized. Various studies found that liking ratings elicited in realistic contexts were higher than those elicited in central location tests under controlled conditions (Boutrolle, Arranz, Rogeaux, & Delarue, 2005; De Graaf, Cardello, Kramer, Lesher, Mei selman, & Schutz, 2005; Hersleth, Mevik, Naes, & Guinard, 2003; Holthuysen, Vrijhof, De Wijk, & Kremer, 2017; King, Meiselman, Hot tenstein, Work, & Cronk, 2007; Petit & Sieffermann, 2007; Willems, Van Hout, Zijlstra, & Zandstra, 2014), there are studies that showed lower liking ratings in realistic contexts (Meiselman, Johnson, Reeve, & Crouch, 2000) or found no evidence for differences in liking (De Wijk, Kaneko, Dijksterhuis, Van Zoggel, Schiona, Visalli, et al, 2019; Zandstra, Kaneko, Dijksterhuis, Vennik, & de Wijk, 2020) Despite these inconsistent findings (relating to the specific products and situa tions under study), it is generally recommended to evaluate foods in realistic choice and consumption contexts, as it is believed to increase the representativity of test results for the market place (Meiselman, 2013; Zandstra, 2018). The experimenters may not know who really tasted and rated the product and under which circumstances (Boutrolle, Delarue, Arranz, Rogeaux, & Koster, 2007; Delarue & Lageat, 2019)
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