Individual differences in perceived complexity are associated with different affective responses to alcoholic cocktails

Publication date: Available online 23 March 2019Source: Food Quality and PreferenceAuthor(s): Lapo Pierguidi, Sara Spinelli, Caterina Dinnella, John Prescott, Erminio MonteleoneAbstractComplexity is a relevant dimension in the development of products preferences and acceptability because of its relationship with hedonic appreciation. The present study aimed to investigate the individual differences in the relationships between product complexity in alcoholic cocktails to liking and to specific sensory properties, situational appropriateness and emotional responses. Six alcoholic cocktails, all of them composed by a common bitter ingredient were selected to represent different complexity levels based on alcohol content, number of ingredients and differences in sensory properties. Products were evaluated by a consumer panel using consumer-led product specific questionnaires. At panel level, the perceived complexity was found to be aligned with the hypothesized range of complexity. When two clusters of consumers based on individual differences in complexity ratings were considered, we observed different relationships between complexity and liking as compared to panel level. Furthermore, the sensory, emotional and situational appropriateness drivers of complexity differed in the two clusters. These data showed that perceived complexity is a multi-dimensional construct in which individuals showing high familiarity with cocktails based on bitter are found to have a very high variat...
Source: Food Quality and Preference - Category: Food Science Source Type: research