Odors Change Visual Attention. A Case Study with Stawberry Odor and Differently Flavoured Yoghurts

Abstract

Eye-movements provide unique information on the understating of human behavior and food choices. Analysis of gazing behavior has been proven to be a successful tool to predict eye-movements or to analyze the effects of certain factors on purchase behavior, choice or opinions. In the current papers we introduce a case study on the analysis of gazing behavior, more precisely the analysis of time to first fixations and fixations durations, to understand the effects of scents/ odors on eye-movements. The presented study was part of a larger set of studies and focuses on a four alternative forced choice task, that included four differently branded and flavored yoghurt products, while strawberry odor was/was not sprayed into the air. The analysis revealed that time to first fixations shortened when strawberry odor was present and the length first fixation increased for the strawberry flavored product when the odor was present. The results support the hypothesis that aroma compounds have significant effect on visual attention, however, they do not show significant effect on food choices, as these are driven by a myriad of other factors.