This chapter provides a general overview of eye-tracking techniques and their applications in consumer research with a focus on the food area. First, the scientific approaches leading to the development of eye trackers are described, followed by a review of the principles and technical solutions of measuring gazing behavior. After a description of the factors influencing gaze behavior and a discussion of the relation between gaze, choice, and decision-making we present applications of eye tracking in the fields of packaging, label and menu design, in-store consumer behavior, emotional responses, and eating disorders. Finally, we discuss a case study involving the use of eye tracking for studying consumer food choice in more detail.

This chapter provides an overview of the current state of automatic facial expression analysis and its application in the field of consumer research. The first part briefly reviews the significance of facial expressions as a means of nonverbal communication of emotions and their relevance in consumer research. The second part provides an overview of conventional and automatic facial expression analysis methods and discusses their advantages as well as their limitations. The third part describes selected published studies applying automatic facial expression analysis in the field of consumer research and concludes with future research directions.

Insect-based dog food is increasingly becoming available in pet food markets, potentially offering environmental and nutritional benefits, depending on insect species and how they are reared, processed, and utilized. However, there is limited understanding of dog owners’ attitudes towards the use of insects as protein alternatives for dogs. An online survey was conducted to explore Australian dog owners’ (n = 201) attitudes towards insect-based pet food, segmenting participants according to their food neophobia, previous insect consumption, and dog-human relationship. Participants’ dog food purchases were highly influenced by perceived health/nutrition, palatability, and product quality, with these factors being of most importance to ‘dog people’ (i.e., participants with closer relationships with their dogs). Participants were reasonably accepting of insect-based pet food made from mealworms and crickets and slightly accepting of products made from black soldier fly larvae. In contrast, participants’ responses to plant-based pet foods were neutral. Food neophiles, and to a lesser extent, insect-eating consumers (i.e., those who had previously eaten insects), were found to be more willing to feed their dogs insects in comparison to non-neophiles and non-insect-eating consumers. Overall, Australian dog owners appear to be supportive of feeding their dogs diets supplemented with insect protein. Insights from this study will help inform the development and marketing of insect-based pet foods.

Background and Aims: Viticulturists and winemakers have a considerable interest in understanding the influence of climate, soil, viticultural and winemaking practices on wine sensory outcomes-that is, understanding the terroir concept, which is important for regionality and claims of product distinctiveness. In this investigation, an empirical study of grape and wine composition, including sensory evaluations, was used to inform the delineation of subregional areas of the Barossa Zone geographical indicator (GI).Methods and Results: A spatiotemporal investigation of Shiraz was undertaken with vineyard zones selected to exemplify maximum heterogeneity within a site. Objective measures of vine performance and grape and wine composition were clustered using the k-means approach, and up to three clusters of vineyard sites were evident within the dataset. Clusters were associated with vineyard elevation and thus growing temperatures. The most important measures of composition defining each cluster were the volatiles ethyl octanoate, diethyl succinate, 1,8-cineole and 3-methyl butyl acetate in grapes. Sensory attribute intensity differences were apparent for wines from some subregions, and projection of the important attributes for clusters defined in this study to key sensory differences shows a high variance in composition related to sensory features from year to year. The spatial outcomes of clusters for vineyard sites align with of some outcomes of prior clustering approaches using data-rich sources for precision agriculture.Conclusions: Subregional zones within the Barossa can be identified where sufficient variations between vineyard elevations exist that impart grape compositional differences, which in turn translate into wine sensory attributes.Significance of the Study: This empirical study provides some evidence for regionality within the Barossa with up to three subregions identified in some vintages.

Virtual reality (VR) has been introduced as a method to improve the ecological validity of sensory tests by mimicking natural consumption contexts. VR has the advantage of being a cost-effective method that allows for sensory tests to be conducted in a more controlled and standardized environment, compared to tests performed in a natural consumption context (e.g., at home, in a restaurant, etc.). While some research with VR has been published, it remains unclear to what extent VR can truly immerse people in the intended context. One possible option to determine the effects of immersion is to investigate VR context-product congruency. As such, the aim of this study is to examine to what extent a congruent eating environment (summer/winter) impacts the perception of food congruent for that eating context. Using a between-subject design, a total of 100 participants evaluated three food products (watermelon, cracker, and chocolate truffle) either in a winter or summer VR context. Results showed that the overall liking of the congruent food (watermelon for summer and chocolate truffle for winter) was significantly higher than for the other foods when consumed in a congruent VR context. It should also be mentioned that overall, the scores were higher for the summer than the winter context, which requires further research (e.g., with other products/VR contexts). The emotions evoked by the consumed food products did not differ according to the VR context. Furthermore, high engagement scores were reported for the participants during this study, compared to the engagement reported by prior research performed in traditional sensory booths. These results illustrate the potential of VR for application in sensory research as the VR context can immerse and engage participants.

Motivations are central in determining consumer food choices and provide insights regarding barriers to change. Given the global need to transition towards more sustainable protein consumption patterns, understanding crosscultural motivations is important. The present research aimed to address this knowledge gap by reviewing motivations to reduce meat and to adopt meat substitutes, edible insects and cultured meat amongst meat-eating consumers in Australia, China and the UK (n = 1,777). An online survey captured the importance of key motivations via closed-ended statements, with barriers to change collected via open-ended questions for extremely unwilling consumers. Results found food safety and environmental benefits to be the most important motives for meat reduction and protein alternatives adoption. Chinese and UK consumers were more motivated by these factors compared to Australian consumers who had the greatest proportion of consumers unwilling to reduce based on the belief meat consumption is necessary for health reasons. Relative differences in motivational importance were also apparent by protein alternative type. In general, the greatest proportion of unwilling responses amongst Australians (n = 245) related to the use of meat substitutes, whilst for Chinese (n = 160) and UK consumers (n = 97) it related to edible insects. Six key themes were identified amongst extremely unwilling consumers, with the protein alternatives being perceived as; Unhealthy, Unnecessary, Unsustainable, Unsafe, Unnatural and Unappealing. The prominence of themes differed between countries and across protein categories, but the perception that alternatives were unnecessary was a communal theme. Overall, the findings provide interesting insights and recommendations to support country-specific protein transitions.

Non-invasive methods for investigating physiological responses to sensory stimuli give insights into the inner experience and behaviour control mechanisms of humans. The advantage of such measures is their implicit nature, meaning that they are automatic, not controlled by will and do not use introspective self-reports using verbal description. Responses of the autonomic nervous system, like cardiac reactions, skin conductance and pupil dilation, serve as indicators of arousal and cognitive or emotional load. Eye movements can be characterised by eye-tracking methods, thus contributing to the explanation of visual attention and the development of food choice. Emotions are involved in the nutritional behaviour of everyday life and facial muscle reactions give insights into spontaneous emotional responses to food stimuli without any biasing question–answer situations. Brain imaging technology enables the study of several responses to food and sensory stimuli, like the individual’s hedonic experiences of wanting and liking, attention or emotions. These methods, their applications, findings, limitations, opportunities, and prospects are reviewed and discussed in this chapter.

Assessing the potential economic and financial feasibility of a new aquaculture operation requires, amongst other things, an estimate of the price the product is expected to receive once produced. For new species, such prices may not be apparent in the market. In this study, we develop a hedonic pricing model to estimate the expected price of a species being considered for aquaculture, but which does not have a current market presence in Australia. The model includes information on a wide range of other species that are currently traded in the market, including low and high value species; farmed and wild caught, and domestically produced or imported. The characteristics of these species, including product form (e.g., whole, fillets, fresh, frozen, etc.) and taste characteristics (e.g., texture, moistness) are regressed against their price. Four different functional forms of the model are applied: log-linear, linear, semi-loglinear and the use of a Box-Cox transformation of the price variable. Sensory testing was undertaken to assess the characteristics of the new species, and the model was used to provide estimates of its likely market price if it is to be produced.

The increasing global demand for meat causes additional environmental and food security issues. Adoption of a healthy and sustainable diet through the reduction of meat consumption may represent one approach to tackle these problems. An online survey collected responses from meat-eaters in Australia (n = 503), China (n = 785) and the UK (n = 489) to review the importance of considering cross-cultural and demographic differences when investigating meat-eating behaviour. The aim of this study was to understand meat consumption habits and the associations between consumers' willingness to reduce meat/ adopt protein alternatives (meat substitutes, edible insects, cultured meat), with the influence of age, gender and country. To aid interpretation and explore interrelationships between variables, regression tree analysis using the CHAID algorithm was used. Results found country to be the most influential factor in predicting changes to meat consumption and willingness to reduce meat/adopt alternatives. Overall, Australians, especially those aged 35-54, were significantly less willing to reduce and adopt alternatives compared to Chinese and UK consumers. Interestingly, Chinese males were more willing to reduce meat and adopt alternatives, whilst the opposite trend was found in the UK. Findings highlight the importance of considering cultural differences, age and gender when designing country specific meat reduction strategies. It also emphasises the need to introduce appropriate protein alternative categories that will help facilitate a dietary transition in a given country. Overall, regression tree analysis has proven to be a useful stats tool to help explain complex interrelationships (e.g., meat consumption with other psychographic behaviours) in the current study.

As the market for sustainable food continues to expand, there is a need to understand how consumers' consumption habits and perceptions are changing. Targeting the younger populations is of interest as they arguably will shape the future of food. Therefore, the present study aimed to provide in-depth consumer insights on a range of topics from current consumption habits (i.e., meat reduction, plant-based meat/seafood (PBM/S)), towards future protein alternatives (i.e., cell-based meat/seafood (CBM/S), precision fermented dairy (PFD)). Online focus groups were conducted in the UK with meat-eaters (n = 38) aged 18-34. Codebook thematic analysis was applied using the Framework Matrix as a tool for data analysis. Key themes were presented using the COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation), which identified areas of behavioural change. Results found a trend towards meat reduction, partially initiated by moving away from home and limited food budgets. Overall, participants acknowledged the environmental impact of food, but a notable knowledge gap was apparent when quantifying the effect, especially for dairy and seafood. Compared to PBM, few participants had tried PBS products, partially due to lower availability and familiarity. Enablers for PBM/S included convenience, positive sensory experiences and the influence of others, whilst barriers related to negative health connotations and over-processing. For CBM/S and PFD, animal welfare, curiosity and optimised nutrition acted as enablers, whilst barriers related to wider consumer acceptance, affordability and unnaturalness. In general, participants felt changing food consumption habits can have an impact on climate change and were optimistic about novel technologies supporting future protein transitions. Increasing public understanding around the environmental impact of food, especially seafood and dairy, and prioritising the affordability of sustainable food are suggested as intervention strategies to encourage sustainable food consumption.

Associative conceptualization plays an important role in how we perceive and interact with our environment. Particularly odor associations can be highly vivid and often long-lasting due to their close connection with our episodic memory and emotions. Based on the findings of a study conducted in Austria in 2017, this work was carried out to investigate odor-elicited life stage-associations (OELSA) in seven nations and to identify potential similarities and differences in conceptualizing odor impressions across these nations. A total of 1144 adults (aged 21-60) from Austria, Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, and Vietnam participated in this study. Nine odors (vanilla, orange, lemon, mint, coconut, basil, rose, anise, and hay) were presented to the participants, and they were asked to answer questions about their spontaneous associations with life stages. The results indicate the existence of OELSA in all investigated nations. For example, vanilla was predominantly assigned to children in all nations, while hay was primarily assigned to elder people. While most of the investigated odors were most frequently associated with adults, some significant differences in OELSA were observed between the different nationalities. For instance, mint was more frequently associated with children by Australian participants compared to participants from all other nations, while coconut was more strongly associated with children by the Vietnamese participants compared to all other participants. The results of this study demonstrate the existence of consistent life stage-related associations elicited by certain odors across different nations and cultures and, at the same time points to differences in life stage-related association with certain odors between the nations. Since this work was not designed to identify the reasons for these differences, we can only make assumptions about the potential underlying causes for these behaviors.

Region of origin is used in marketing of wine and by consumers as a wine quality indicator. To better understand wine consumers' purchase decisions, sensory perception, and wine liking in connection with wine provenance, this study used regular wine consumers (n = 112) to evaluate two Cabernet Sauvignon wines from each of four wine producing regions through hedonic rating and rate-all-that-apply (RATA) testing in conjunction with pre- and post-tasting questionnaires. The majority of consumers rated the region of origin stated on the label as important for purchase intent and for deciding the price they were willing to pay for a wine. The questionnaire also revealed that consumers were familiar with the wine typicity concept, but seemed to consider it only as an extrinsic characteristic rather than an intrinsic aspect of the wine. By randomly dividing the consumers into two groups (n = 56 each), one having information on the origin of samples and the other tasting without such knowledge, it was demonstrated that origin information had a positive impact on hedonic scores. Sensory profiling revealed that origin information did not impact the sample sensory characterisation, and liking for both groups was related to 'full body', 'jammy', and 'dark fruits' attributes. Some regional profile features were apparent for the samples, such as 'minty' for Coonawarra and savoury attributes for Bordeaux. Overall, this work highlighted that consumers could differentiate wines from distinct regions on the basis of sensory characteristics.

Viognier is a warm climate grape variety prone to loss of acidity and accumulation of excessive sugars. The yeast Lachancea thermotolerans can improve the stability and balance of such wines due to the partial conversion of sugars to lactic acid during alcoholic fermentation. This study compared the performance of five L. thermotolerans strains in co-inoculations and sequential inoculations with Saccharomyces cerevisiae in high sugar/pH Viognier fermentations. The results highlighted the dichotomy between the non-acidified and the bio-acidified L. thermotolerans treatments, with either comparable or up to 0.5 units lower pH relative to the S. cerevisiae control. Significant differences were detected in a range of flavour-active yeast volatile metabolites. The perceived acidity mirrored the modulations in wine pH/TA, as confirmed via "Rate-All-That-Apply" sensory analysis. Despite major variations in the volatile composition and acidity alike, the varietal aromatic expression (i.e., stone fruit aroma/flavour) remained conserved between the treatments.

This study explored wine consumers’ preferences towards a novel Australian Shiraz wine product containing Ganoderma lucidum (GL). Wine consumers (n = 124) were asked to complete a questionnaire and participate in a blind tasting of six GL wine products (differing in the amount and timing of GL extract additions). Based on individual liking scores for each GL wine product that was tasted, four hedonic clusters C1 (n = 44, preferred control and low levels of GL additions), C2 (n = 28, preferred control only), C3 (n = 26, generally preferred all GL additions) and C4 (n = 26, preferred 1 g/L additions and 4 g/L post-fermentation) were identified. Sensory attributes of the GL wine products were also profiled with rate-all-that-apply (n = 65) and the 31 sensory attributes that significantly differentiated the wines underwent principal component analysis with the hedonic clusters overlaid to explain consumers’ preferences. There was a clear separation between hedonic clusters. Sensory attributes and volatile flavor compounds that significantly differentiated the wines were subjected to partial least squares regression, which indicated the important positive drivers of liking among the hedonic clusters. Pepper and jammy aroma, 3-methylbutanoic acid (linked to fruity notes) and non-fruit aftertaste positively drove C2′s preference, whereas spice flavor and hexanoic acid (known for leafy and woody descriptors) drove C3′s liking. There were no positive drivers for C1′s liking but bitter taste, cooked vegetable, and toasty aromas drove this cluster’ dislike. C4 preferred brown appearance, tobacco aroma, and jammy and cooked vegetable flavors. These findings provide the wine industry with deeper insights into consumers’ liking towards new GL wine products targeted at the Australasian market.

Well-structured stimuli presentation is essential in eye-tracking research to test predefined hypotheses reliably and to conduct relevant gazing behavior studies. Several bottom-up factors associated with stimuli presentation (such as stimuli orientation, size etc.) can influence gazing behavior. However, only a small number of scientific papers address these factors in a sensory and consumer science context and thus provide guidance to practitioners. The two presented eye-tracking studies on food images aimed at evaluating the effect of the bottom-up factors stimulus size, background of the picture, orientation of food product presentation, the evaluated products and the number of alternatives. Significant effects of product group were found in the case of all eye-movement parameters except time to first fixation and first fixation duration. In contrary, orientation significantly influenced only the time to first fixation and first fixation duration parameters. Stimulus size significantly increased fixation and dwell count, while background showed no significant effects. Furthermore, significant relationships were found between the number of presented images and eye-movement and decision time. Less time was needed in 2AFC (alternative forced choice test), 3AFC and 4AFC and significantly more time was needed to choose one alternative out of 7AFC and 8AFC. The results of the two studies show that the investigated bottom-up factors can significantly influence gazing behavior, and therefore need to be carefully considered when planning or comparing results of eye-tracking experiments.

Wine consumer lifestyle segmentation has been widely studied; however, most studies have solely utilised online surveys. This work investigated the impact of context on wine consumer segments' liking and emotions while consuming wines in different environments. Two studies were conducted with regular wine consumers segmented based on their fine wine behaviour using the Fine Wine Instrument. Study 1 (n = 122) investigated the effects of wine variety and product information, and Study 2 (n = 346) the effects of wine quality and consumption context, on hedonic and emotional responses of the segments. Within both studies, three segments were identified and named: Wine Enthusiasts, Aspirants and No Frills. The Wine Enthusiast segment generally liked the wines more and perceived more intense positive emotions when consuming wine compared to the No Frills segment, with the Aspirant's likes and emotion intensities ranging in between. Wine Enthusiasts were more discriminative of their preferred wines and reported stronger positive emotions when tasting higher quality (Study 1) and more complex (Study 2) wines. The consistent results across the two studies showed for the first time that consumer segments, based on lifestyle segmentation, differ in their hedonic and emotional responses towards wine when actually tasting wines, demonstrating that the Fine Wine Instrument has practical implications and can identify wine consumers displaying different wine consumption behaviours.

The concept of wine typicity has been an important tool for the international wine trade, and especially for Old World wine producing countries, where provenance criteria are regulated and act as a quality indicator. Provenance in Australia is governed by Geographical Indications, for which typicity should also be evident in terms of regional sensory profiles of wine from a given grape cultivar. Two approaches were used to identify sensory drivers for regional typicity of commercial Cabernet Sauvignon wines from three Australian regions, namely Coonawarra, Margaret River, and Yarra Valley. Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wines from Bordeaux were also assessed for benchmarking purposes. A set of 84 wines underwent a sorting task and rate-all-that-apply (RATA) analysis of the sorted groups with an expert panel. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering of the sorting task data did not show a clear regional driver upon separating the samples into four main clusters, although certain sensory traits could be associated with the different clusters. On the other hand, canonical variate analysis (CVA) of the group-RATA results indicated several sensory drivers for the separation between the regions, such as 'mint' and 'dark fruits' being important for Coonawarra wine profiles, 'floral' and 'green pepper' for Margaret River, 'stemmy' for Yarra Valley, and 'barnyard' and 'savoury' differentiating Bordeaux wines from the other regions. A subset (n = 52) of wines was selected for further evaluation by descriptive analysis with a trained panel. Statistical evaluation with CVA revealed similar results to the expert evaluation, with Bordeaux wines showing more dissimilarity when compared to Australian regions, and having 'savoury' and 'earthy' as significant characters. The results also demonstrated that 'mint' and 'Mallee leaf' were relevant characters for Coonawarra regional sensory profile, 'violets' and 'red fruits' for Margaret River, and 'cooked vegetables' for Yarra Valley. Analysing both data sets (expert RATA and DA) revealed some agreement between the sets of results for attributes such as 'mint', 'cooked vegetables', 'floral', green-related characters, and oak characters like 'vanilla' and 'chocolate'. Overall, experts and trained panellists were able to distinguish regions based on a few characteristic sensory traits.

It is still not fully clear how particular aromas in wine may affect consumers’ liking and emotional responses, and whether these change in different contexts and seasons. Therefore, a study was conducted with 3000 regular wine consumers from Australia, UK and USA using an online survey that assessed liking for 59 wine aromas, and from which 9 aromas, selected as representatives of groups of similar aromas, were profiled for elicited emotions by the ScentMove™ scale.The most liked wine aromas across all countries were ‘berry-like’, followed by ‘vanilla’, ‘chocolate’, ‘citrus-like’ and ‘honey’. Interestingly, aromas with the same liking rating displayed significantly different emotional profiles which seemed to drive differences in preferred consumption occasion and season. For example, highly liked ‘passionfruit’ aroma, associated with happy, relaxed and romantic emotions, was suitable for many occasions and seasons, ‘lemon’ evoked energetic emotions and was preferred in wines consumed at parties/BBQs in summer, while ‘chocolate’ would fit well in a restaurant. Hedonic and emotional responses towards selected wine aromas differed between various demographic groups. Gender, age and consumption frequency had greater effects than education or income, with similar patterns found in each country indicating similarity in wine cultures and the language used. The national influence was more reflected in the polarised rating by the USA consumers compared to UK and Australia. This information could be utilised to produce wines for specific occasions and seasons.

Novel Shiraz red wine products enriched with Ganoderma lucidum (GL) extract, a traditional Asian medicinal mushroom, were developed and characterized. GL extract was added at different levels prior to and after primary fermentation to investigate its impact on the juice fermentation kinetics, and the chemical composition and sensory properties of the resulting wines. The fermentation kinetics of red grape juice were not significantly different between ferments. Basic chemical analyses plus headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME), gas chromatography‒mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and a rate-all-that-apply (RATA) (n = 65) sensory panel were used to investigate the influence of GL extract additions on wine composition and sensory characteristics. Of the 54 sensory attributes assessed, 39 significantly differentiated the wines. A clear separation between GL wine treatments was evident with PLS regression, where specific volatiles were correlated with relevant sensory attributes that dominated the wines. These products could be promising for emerging wine markets.