Abstract
When it comes to eating and drinking, multiple factors from diverse sensory modalities have been shown to influence multisensory flavour perception and liking. These factors have heretofore been strictly divided into either those that are intrinsic to the food itself (e.g., food colour, aroma, texture), or those that are extrinsic to it (e.g., related to the packaging, receptacle or external environment). Given the obvious public health need for sugar reduction, the present review aims to compare the relative influences of product-intrinsic and product-extrinsic factors on the perception of sweetness. Evidence of intrinsic and extrinsic sensory influences on sweetness are reviewed. Thereafter, we take a cognitive neuroscience perspective and evaluate how differences may occur in the way that food-intrinsic and extrinsic information become integrated with sweetness perception. Based on recent neuroscientific evidence, we propose a new framework of multisensory flavour integration focusing not on the food-intrinsic/extrinsic divide, but rather on whether the sensory information is perceived to originate from within or outside the body. This framework leads to a discussion on the combinability of intrinsic and extrinsic influences, where we refer to some existing examples and address potential theoretical limitations. To conclude, we provide recommendations to those in the food industry and propose directions for future research relating to the need for long-term studies and understanding of individual differences.
Highlights
Eating and drinking are amongst the most multisensory of the experiences that we have.When people think about the consumption of food and drink, the senses of taste and smell usually come to mind first
A growing body of research conducted over the last decade or two has increasingly demonstrated that all of our senses play a role in influencing flavour perception
We focus on how intrinsic and extrinsic factors can enhance the perception of sweetness in foods and beverages and address the question of how they can be combined in order to deliver an enhanced perception of sweetness
Summary
Eating and drinking are amongst the most multisensory of the experiences that we have. In the current review, we endeavour to assess the complex interplay between various different sensory factors surrounding the multisensory eating experience, with a cognitive neuroscience view of how the senses combine to shape taste perception Various cognitive factors, such as, for instance, any information provided by packaging, can influence consumer flavour perception and acceptance of sugar-reduced foods [21]; such cognitive effects fall beyond the scope of the present article. Sugar substitution schemes with non-caloric sweeteners are outside of the scope of the present review [22])
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