Can facial expressions predict beer choices after tasting? A proof of concept study on implicit measurements for a better understanding of choice behavior among beer consumers

An advance in novel intelligent sensory technologies: From an implicit‐tracking perspective of food perception

“…In a study by Wakihira et al. (2022), the facial expressions of beer consumers were analyzed during the tasting process. The result found that the action of “lip suck” before swallowing negatively affected beer choice prediction.…”

“…For instance, humans tend to display disgust and aversion toward bitter, as well as excessive sour and salty flavors, while showing positive emotion‐terms toward sweet foods (Bredie et al., 2014; Kessler et al., 2020; Kim et al., 2017). Considering that consumer emotions are mostly driven by unconscious mechanisms in real life, AFEA can effectively analyze and interpret facial expressions, playing a significant role in food sensory and consumer research (Bredie et al., 2014; Crist et al., 2018; Danner, Sidorkina, et al., 2014; de Wijk et al., 2019; Gunaratne et al., 2019; Höfling et al., 2020; Mena et al., 2023; Wakihira et al., 2022).…”

“…Despite recent research on food cues related to odors and liquid solutions, there is a noticeable lack of research on solid food, with insufficient focus on studying the dynamic aspects of food consumption. Moreover, it is important to acknowledge that the generalizability of findings from many studies may require further evidence due to limitations in equipment, sample consistency, or sample size (Wakihira et al., 2022; Xu et al., 2022; Zhou et al., 2023). Therefore, future research should encompass more comprehensive multi‐sensory stimuli, intensify efforts to investigate solid food and dynamic perception, and enhance research design and interdisciplinary collaboration to advance the field of intelligent perception research.…”

“…Implicit methods are particularly beneficial when studying sensitive topics, exploring implicit biases, or investigating the impact of non‐conscious factors on food choices. In the food industry, when conducting experiments to study food preferences and implicit biases, or to assess consumer sensory perception and attitudes toward new products, facial analysis techniques such as eye tracking and AFEA have proven to outperform other implicit methods (Wakihira et al., 2022). Neuroimaging techniques, on the other hand, are more capable of elucidating the implicit physiological responses to food consumption.…”

Electrodermal response and its relationship with explicit response in controlled and real contexts: A case study with different beer styles

“…Therefore, a set of beers with different sensory properties should elicit different responses in a population with different consumer segments. Although some studies have been conducted to determine consumers' response to various beers in different contexts (Gómez‐Corona, Chollet, Escalona‐Buendía, & Dominique, 2017; Nijman et al, 2019), and other studies have been conducted to determine the implicit response to beer (Hinojosa‐Aguayo, García‐Burgos, Catena, & González, 2022; Wakihira, Morimoto, Higuchi, & Nagatomi, 2022), no studies have been published up to date in which implicit measurements were determined in a real context of beer consumption. The present study shows a comparison of consumer responses (implicit and explicit) to five beer samples in two different contexts (a real context—restaurant, and a controlled context—sensory lab), with the aim of identifying the potential usefulness of this simple implicit response recording technology to collect data on the total food experience as suggested by De Wijk and Noldus (2021).…”