On the psychological impact of food colour
Spence's review is the standard reference for the claim that colour is the single most important product-intrinsic sensory cue for setting people's expectations about the likely taste and flavour of food and drink. A large body of laboratory work, he records, shows that changing the hue or the intensity of a food or beverage colour can have a sometimes dramatic effect on expectations, and therefore on the experiences that follow. The qualification is the part worth keeping. Where the colour does not match the taste, the likely result is a negatively valenced disconfirmation of expectation, so a perfectly good product is rated worse than it deserves. Food colours mean different things, and give rise to different expectations, in different age groups and in different cultures, and genetic differences such as a person's taster status modulate the impact as well. None of that supports a universal palette, which is what the paper is most often cited to sell.
Spence's review is the standard reference for the claim that colour is the single most important product-intrinsic sensory cue for setting people's expectations about the likely taste and flavour of food and drink. A large body of laboratory work, he records, shows that changing the hue or the intensity of a food or beverage colour can have a sometimes dramatic effect on expectations, and therefore on the experiences that follow. The qualification is the part worth keeping. Where the colour does not match the taste, the likely result is a negatively valenced disconfirmation of expectation, so a perfectly good product is rated worse than it deserves. Food colours mean different things, and give rise to different expectations, in different age groups and in different cultures, and genetic differences such as a person's taster status modulate the impact as well. None of that supports a universal palette, which is what the paper is most often cited to sell.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
4, 21. Colour described as the single most important product-intrinsic sensory cue for setting taste and flavour expectations; mismatch produces a negatively valenced disconfirmation of expectation; effects vary by age group, culture and taster status. doi:10.1186/s13411-015-0031-3
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- Why Your Coffee Tastes Different in a White Cup, Why We Crave
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The source
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13411-015-0031-3
DOI: 10.1186/s13411-015-0031-3