You Eat How You Think: A Review on the Impact of Cognitive Styles on Food Perception and Behavior

Abstract

Sensory perception is understood to be a complex area of research that requires investigations from a variety of different perspectives. Although researchers have tried to better understand consumers’ perception of food, one area that has been minimally explored is how psychological cognitive theories can help them explain consumer perceptions, behaviors, and decisions in food-related experiences. The concept of cognitive styles has existed for nearly a century, with the majority of cognitive style theories existing along a continuum with two bookends. Some of the more common theories such as individualist-collectivist, left-brain-right-brain, and convergent-divergent theories each offered their own unique insight into better understanding consumer behavior. However, these theories often focused only on niche applications or on specific aspects of cognition. More recently, the analytic-holistic cognitive style theory was developed to encompass many of these prior theoretical components and apply them to more general cognitive tendencies of individuals. Through applying the analytic-holistic theory and focusing on modern cultural psychology work, this review may allow researchers to be able to answer one of the paramount questions of sensory and consumer sciences: how and why do consumers perceive and respond to food stimuli the way that they do?

Development and validation of a food‐related analysis–holism scale (F‐AHS)

“…In addition, the analytic group exhibited greater standard deviation values than the holistic group, which was in line with previous findings (Bacha‐Trams et al., 2018). Both the correlation and penalty analysis findings were more closely matched with the findings from Beekman and Seo (2023; see also Beekman, 2022), but it still supported the F‐AHS performing well in separating CS groups. One of the clear advantages of the F‐AHS over the AHS within this sensory evaluation study was its comparison of pre‐ and post‐scores.…”

“…Across the conducted analyses and corresponding results, the consistent finding was a superior performance of the F‐AHS, relative to the prior AHS findings from Beekman and Seo (2023; see also Beekman, 2022). This main finding was shown through results from the F‐AHS segmentation resulting in greater AH response differences that more closely matched with prior AH literature compared to Beekman and Seo's findings that relied on AHS segmentation (Beekman & Seo, 2023; see also Beekman, 2022) findings that relied on AHS segmentation. When first looking solely at the mean rating differences, the results first showed an interaction between scale types and CS groups (Table 4), which was hypothesized but not seen in prior research (Beekman, 2022; Beekman & Seo, 2023).…”

“…The second main objective was to validate the newly developed F‐AHS through employing it within a sensory evaluation study. To validate the F‐AHS against the AHS, the study from Beekman and Seo (2023; see also Beekman, 2022) was replicated utilizing the F‐AHS, with the hypothesis being that the F‐AHS will better separate consumer participants than the AHS through greater response differences that more closely match the prior literature. Through the F‐AHS development and validation, it was expected that a well‐fitting model can be developed to better assess AH tendencies within food‐related consumer research.…”

The Influence of Sensory Characteristics of Game Meat on Consumer Neuroperception: A Narrative Review

“…The neuroperception generated by food, in particular game meat, involves the use of the following senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustative. Visual cues are often the first perceived and able to influence perception [ 40 ]. People derive food expectations from the visual properties of products.…”

“…Cognitive neuroscience helps researchers explain cross-modal interaction and multisensory integration [ 45 ]. As stated by Beekman [ 40 ], environmental factors have a crucial impact on sensory perception. Various empirical evidences has shown that consumer perception and emotional responses differ according to environmental situations [ 46 ], e.g., ambient odor, table setting, temperature during tasting, or even season.…”