Emotion Recognition—Recent Advances and Applications in Consumer Behavior and Food Sciences with an Emphasis on Facial Expressions

For decades, the study of emotions has been the center of attention in research and practice. Based on relevant literature, this paper focuses on the subject of measurement, and provides a structured overview of common measurement tools by distinguishing between methods of communication and observation. Given the authors’ field of competence, presentation pursues a consumer behavior and food sciences perspective. Furthermore, the paper devotes attention to automatic facial expressions analysis technology which advanced considerably in recent years. Three original empirical examples from the authors’ range of experience reveal strengths and weaknesses of this technology

Sensory evaluation of wellness-drinks

In dieser Arbeit wurde ermittelt, wie gross die spontane, hedonisch-affektive Akzeptanz ausgewählter Wellness-Getränke ist, welchen Effekt die Information über die Marke auf diese Akzeptanz hat, und ob dieser Effekt an drei Testorten in Österreich, Deutschland und der Schweiz der gleiche ist. In einer international angelegten Studie wurden acht ausgewählte Wellness-Getränke (Produkte A-H) einem spontanen, hedonisch-affektiven Akzeptanztest durch 280 Konsumenten in Fitness- und Wellness-Einrichtungen sowie einem Aversionstest durch zehn Prüfpersonen unterzogen. Beim Akzeptanztest wurden die Proben zuerst codiert und anschliessend mit dem Markennamen versehen zur Prüfung dargereicht. Die Produkte "G" und "H" erwiesen sich in codierter Form dargereicht als die beliebtesten an allen drei Testorten, die Produkte "E" und "F" als die am wenigsten beliebten. Die Verteilungen der Akzeptanzurteile waren erwartungsgemäss nicht normalverteilt und zeigten deutliche Veränderungen durch das Nennen des Markennamens. Die Veränderungen waren an den drei Testorten unterschiedlich ausgeprägt. Während in Österreich Produkt "C" durch den Markennamen profitierte, erzielte Produkt "G" in Deutschland und in der Schweiz eine höhere Bewertung durch die Nennung des Markennamens. Marken sind demnach in der Lage, hedonisch-affektive Akzeptanzurteile von Konsumenten massgeblich zu modulieren. Die Ergebnisse der Aversionstests lassen bei keinem der untersuchten Produkte auf das Entstehen von Aversionen durch grössere Konsummengen schliessen, im Gegenteil die Akzeptanz aller untersuchten acht Wellness-Getränke stieg im Laufe des Aversionstests leicht an.In this study it was investigated, how consumers in the three test locations Vienna, Dresden and Wädenswil liked selected wellness-drinks in terms of hedonic-affective sensory evaluation. It was also investigated, which effects branding had on the hedonic-affective evaluation, and if those effects were different in the three test locations. Two hundred and eighty consumers were recruited in gyms and wellness-centres to do a spontaneous hedonic-affective acceptance test with eight selected wellness-drinks (products A-H) and ten persons also did an aversion-test with those samples. In the acceptance test the samples were given first in a coded and afterwards in a branded way. Description of the hedonic test results proved to be difficult since most of the data did not follow normal distributions but showed two or three peaks. Additionally, some of the products exhibited a change of shape of the distributions after branding. Generally the drinks “G“ and “H“ were highly rated in all three test regions, whereas the drinks “E“ and “F“ were not appreciated by the consumers. Branding had different effects on the hedonic judgements in the three regions. Whereas e.g. the drink “C“ profited from branding in Austria, it was the drink “G“ that showed improved hedonic evaluation results via branding in Germany and Switzerland. The acceptance of the investigated products increased slightly in the run of the aversion-tests, so there was no evidence for the formation of hedonic aversions with all eight products

Are implicit emotion measurements evoked by food unrelated to liking?

In an effort to find a simple method to measure implicit and unconscious emotional effects of food consumption, a number of methods were compared in an experiment in which 3 groups of at least 24 subjects were each exposed to a pair of yoghurts of the same brand and marketed in the same way, but with different flavours or fat content. The methods used were eye tracking of the packaging, face reading during consumption, a new emotive projection test (EPT) and an autobiographical reaction time test based on mood congruency. In the emotive projection test the subjects rated photographs of others on 6 positive and 6 negative personality traits after having eaten the yoghurt. It showed clear differences in two of the three pairs of yoghurt. The autobiographical congruency test failed to reach significance although all findings went in the same direction as the ones in the EPT. Liking and familiarity with the products were also measured and the fact that they were not related to the emotional effects was established. Eye tracking showed effects of familiarity when the measurements before and after consumption of the yoghurts were compared. The results of the face reading test are not reported due to technical difficulties. Although liking itself was not correlated with the emotional effects in the emotive projection test, shifts in liking caused by consumption of the product did, indicating the emotional importance of pleasant surprise or disappointment in the confrontation between the expected and the actual experience of the product. Sensory differences in the fruit flavours had no effects on the emotional reactions, but change in fat content did, while vanilla flavour had a strong positive emotional effect.</p