The effects of flavour, colour and trigeminal interactions, congruency and exposure on the perception of cooling and flavour in model beverages
C.E.F. Petit*, J. Hort & T.A. Hollowood
University of Nottingham, UK
In the early 60’s, Rose Marie Pangborn pioneered research of taste/appearance interactions and yet some effects of appearance on flavour perception still remain unexplained. In this study, we attempted a) to understand and model colour:flavour:cooling interactions in beverages with predetermined congruent and incongruent formulations and b) understand the impact of exposure on flavour and cooling perception in an incongruent colour:flavour:cooling mixture. Twenty-six trained subjects rated the flavour and cooling intensities on labelled magnitude scales (LMS) of a range of congruent (green:melon:cooling) and incongruent (purple:pineapple:cooling) mixture combinations. Subsequently, the panel was split into two groups. The groups were exposed over 5 weeks to either the congruent or incongruent beverage mixture. Post exposure, they assessed the flavour and cooling intensities of the incongruent mixtures on LMS scales. Attribute ratings were statistically compared at individual and group levels.
In the congruent mixture, analysis of variance of the data indicated significant interactions between both cooling compound and melon flavoring concentration, but no effect of colour, for both cooling and flavour intensity assessments (p<0.05). No significant interactions were found for the incongruent mixture. In the second experiment, exposure to the incongruent mix had a significant effect on both flavour and cooling intensity judgments (T-test, p<0.001). For example, post exposure the presence of the cooling compound enhanced flavour intensity judgments, but this effect was not observed pre exposure. No such effects were observed for the group who was only exposed to the congruent combination. Additional analysis of the results will be presented.
This study provides further evidence that flavour perception does not only depend on the ‘aroma/taste’ relationship but that trigeminal and appearance factors contribute to flavour perception. Furthermore, evidence is presented that interactions between these factors develop following repeated concurrent exposure to the stimuli over a relatively short period.
Key words: flavour interaction, colour, cooling, congruency, exposure