Review
Grape expectations: The role of cognitive influences in color–flavor interactions

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2009.08.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Color conveys critical information about the flavor of food and drink by providing clues as to edibility, flavor identity, and flavor intensity. Despite the fact that more than 100 published papers have investigated the influence of color on flavor perception in humans, surprisingly little research has considered how cognitive and contextual constraints may mediate color–flavor interactions. In this review, we argue that the discrepancies demonstrated in previously-published color–flavor studies may, at least in part, reflect differences in the sensory expectations that different people generate as a result of their prior associative experiences. We propose that color–flavor interactions in flavor perception cannot be understood solely in terms of the principles of multisensory integration (the currently dominant theoretical framework) but that the role of higher-level cognitive factors, such as expectations, must also be considered.

Introduction

Our perception of the flavor of food and drink emerges from the integration of information provided by multiple unisensory inputs: Olfactory, gustatory, somatosensory, auditory, visual, and trigeminal information are all combined in order to produce what is commonly referred to as flavor perception (Amerine et al., 1965, Auvray and Spence, 2008; for a review, see Verhagen & Engelen, 2005). It is important to note that vision and (orthonasal) olfaction (see Frasnelli et al., 2007, Rozin, 1982) provide somewhat unique contributions to flavor perception in that they typically give us information prior to our consumption of food and drink (see Hutchings, 1977; note that for most packaged foods visual cues may be the only information we initially receive about the food). This contrasts with the more proximal senses of taste, touch, audition, and retronasal olfaction that normally only provide flavor information once the food or drink item has entered the mouth. Of the many visual cues we receive (opacity, pearlescence, etc.), color, in particular, seems to constitute a central part of our experience of food and drink (Hutchings, 1977), because of its role as an indicator of edibility (e.g., Clydesdale, 1993, Wheatley, 1973), and because of its role in suggesting both the likely identity and intensity of flavor (see Lavin and Lawless, 1998, Maga, 1974, Schutz, 1954, Zampini et al., 2007). As a result, many researchers have argued that color may play a particularly influential role in our experience of flavor (see Schutz and Wahl, 1981, Zampini et al., 2007).

In fact, the study of color–flavor interactions represents a very active area of research, with more than 100 studies having been published on this topic since the early 1930s, when the effect of color on human flavor perception was first documented (e.g., Christensen, 1985, Delwiche, 2003, Moir, 1936, Clydesdale, 1993, Hall, 1958, for reviews). For example, in one oft-cited study, Johnson and Clydesdale (1982) revealed a significant effect of color on flavor perception, reporting that the increasing addition of red color to a drink had a statistically significant effect on people’s perception of sweetness. Sweetness in darker colored solutions was rated as 2–10% higher than the lighter reference despite the fact that the actual sucrose concentration was 1% lower (see DuBose et al., 1980, Duncker, 1939, Garber et al., 2000, Philipsen et al., 1995, Roth et al., 1988, Strugnell, 1997, Zellner and Durlach, 2003, for other studies of color–flavor interactions).

Color cues have been shown to have a significant effect on people’s perception of many different foods, including chocolate (Duncker, 1939), butter (Rohm, Strobl, & Jaros, 1997), cheese and jelly (Christensen, 1985), steaks (Malphrus, 1957, Wheatley, 1973), sherbets (Hall, 1958), sweets (Teerling, 1992), cake (DuBose et al., 1980; Experiment 4), etc. However, by far the majority of research has been concerned with people’s perception of flavored drinks (e.g., DuBose et al., 1980, Hyman, 1983, Johnson et al., 1983, Johnson et al., 1982, Stillman, 1993, Strugnell, 1997, Tuorila-Ollikainen, 1982, Tuorila-Ollikainen et al., 1984, Zampini et al., 2008, Zampini et al., 2007; see also Timberlake & Bridle, 1983), presumably due to the ease of stimulus control and creation that such experimental materials afford. Although many studies have compellingly documented the effects of color on flavor perception, it is important to note that many contradictory findings have also been reported in the literature. In particular, a number of studies have failed to demonstrate any effect of color on human flavor perception (e.g., Alley and Alley, 1998, Christensen, 1985, Frank et al., 1989, Pangborn et al., 1963). For example, Alley and Alley reported no effect of color on participants’ ratings of sweetness for red, blue, yellow, green, and clear sugar–water samples. Similarly, Frank et al. found that adding red food coloring to a strawberry-flavored drink failed to increase perceived sweetness ratings when assessed relative to a clear drink.1

In trying to determine which factors might help to explain these discrepant results, it becomes apparent that despite the abundance of published studies on the effects of color on flavor perception in humans, surprisingly little is known about the cognitive constraints that may mediate how a given sensory (i.e., visual) input is interpreted in the context of multisensory flavor perception. In this review, we put forward the hypothesis that the inconsistent results reported across previously-published studies may, in part, reflect the fact that differences in people’s sensory expectations (as rooted in the specific associations that they pick up from their environments) can lead to differences in the flavor characteristics that sensory cues like color come to signify. More specifically, we compare color–flavor associations across cultures (cf. Aslam, 2006, Courtney, 1986, Lucchelli et al., 1978, Wheatley, 1973), under the assumption that exposure to certain specific color–flavor co-pairings may well be fairly consistent within these population subgroups. Critically, cognitive influences, like expectations, have been shown to influence people’s flavor experiences (cf. Yeomans, Chambers, Blumenthal, & Blake, 2008) in ways that depend on a certain set of expectation and experimental constraints (see Clydesdale et al., 1992, Zellner and Durlach, 2002; and Zellner, Strickhouser, & Tornow, 2004, for a comprehensive review).

Section snippets

A cognitive approach to color–flavor interactions

Color appears to represent a particularly good example of a cognitive-based influence on multisensory flavor perception (see Hutchings, 1977). Different colors can carry different semantic meanings depending on the specific color–flavor pairings that individuals are systematically exposed to in their environments. This assertion is rooted in the model of color and psychological function proposed by Elliot and Maier in their review paper published in 2007. There, the authors propose that colors

The study of color–flavor associations in past literature

We begin by considering the extent to which people have linked colors of food and drink to flavors, and what these particular color–flavor relationships are. In one oft-cited study by DuBose et al. (1980), the participants had to identify the fruit flavors of drinks that incorporated a variety of different color–flavor pairings, some of which were ‘appropriate’ (e.g., a red color paired with a cherry-flavored drink) and others which were ‘inappropriate’ (e.g., a red color paired with a lime

Participants

Twenty British participants completed this experiment at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford and 15 Taiwanese participants completed this experiment at the Psychology Department, National Taiwan University. Participants were given a £5 UK Sterling gift voucher and no compensation, respectively, in return for their participation. The experimental procedure used was approved by the Ethical Committee of the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford.

Apparatus and stimuli

Results

The pattern of flavor responses provided for each color within each group of participants (see Table 1) was found to be significantly different from that of a uniform distribution (British: [p < .01] and Taiwanese: [p < .01], according to the results of a 1-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov Test (after correcting for multiple comparisons, p < .01, was considered as significant; see Ben-Horim & Levy, 1981; pp. 780–786). The results indicate that both groups of participants exhibited robust color–flavor

Discussion

The results of this study highlight the existence of significant cultural differences between the color–flavor associations for certain colors but not for others, even though the sample size was relatively small. For example, when presented with a brown drink,

How do sensory-specific expectations mediate flavor perception?

How have the expectations induced by colors (as rooted in learned associations such as those mentioned above) been shown to mediate specific color–flavor interactions, preferences, behavioral responses, and hedonic ratings of foodstuffs in recent published studies? A wide range of research has explored the role that labeling can play in mediating people’s expectations and their subsequent flavor experiences (Cardello and Sawyer, 1992, Deliza and MacFie, 1996, Kahkonen and Tuorila, 1998, Lee et

Implications and future directions

In future experiments, the idiosyncratic nature of color–flavor pairings should be considered – whether by controlling for cultural background or by training participants using associative-learning tasks – in order to most effectively control for participants’ expectations. After all, if one person’s color–flavor pairings are different from those of another, this could have significant consequences on how sensory cues (e.g., color) interact with and mediate expectations, and consequently, human

Concluding remarks

In conclusion, the evidence reviewed here highlights the importance of considering the specific cognitive constraints driving the effects of color cues on people’s flavor perception. We hypothesize that the discrepancies that seemingly pervade the literature may, at least in part, reflect differences in the expectations that participants had in the various studies. Thus, determining (1) people’s specific color–flavor associations; (2) how these associations mediate sensory experiences and

Acknowledgments

The authors confirm that they have no competing interests. Special thanks to Avi Feller for help with the statistical analysis of the data presented in the manuscript and to Yi-Chuan Chen and Mary Ngo for help in running the experiment. M.A.S was supported by the Rhodes Trust.

References (105)

  • H. Schifferstein et al.

    Asymmetry in the disconfirmation of expectations for natural yogurt

    Appetite

    (1999)
  • D.M. Small

    Crossmodal integration – insights from the chemical senses

    Trends in Neurosciences

    (2004)
  • H. Tuorila-Ollikainen

    Pleasantness of colourless and coloured soft drinks and consumer attitudes to artificial food colours

    Appetite

    (1982)
  • B. Wansink et al.

    How soy labeling influences preference and taste

    International Food and Agribusiness Management Review

    (2000)
  • M. Yeomans et al.

    The role of expectancy in sensory and hedonic evaluation: The case of smoked salmon ice-cream

    Food Quality and Preference

    (2008)
  • M. Zampini et al.

    The multisensory perception of flavor: Assessing the influence of color cues on flavor discrimination responses

    Food Quality and Preference

    (2007)
  • W.J. Adams et al.

    Experience can change the ‘light-from-above’ prior

    Nature Neuroscience

    (2004)
  • R. Alley et al.

    The influence of physical state and color on perceived sweetness

    Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied

    (1998)
  • M.A. Amerine et al.

    Principles of sensory evaluation of food

    (1965)
  • M.M. Aslam

    Are you selling the right colour? A cross-cultural review of colour as a marketing cue

    Journal of Marketing Communications

    (2006)
  • E. Balcetis et al.

    Conceptual set as a top-down constraint on visual object identification

    Perception

    (2007)
  • M. Ben-Horim et al.

    Statistics: Decisions and applications in businesses and economics

    (1981)
  • N. Camgoz et al.

    Effects of hue, saturation, and brightness: Part 2

    Color Research and Application

    (2003)
  • A.V. Cardello

    Consumer expectations and their role in food acceptance

  • A. Cardello et al.

    Effects of disconfirmed consumer expectations of food acceptability

    Journal of Sensory Studies

    (1992)
  • M.M. Chan et al.

    The effect of color on perceived flavor intensity and acceptance of foods by young adults and elderly adults

    Journal of the American Dietetic Association

    (1997)
  • D. Chiappe et al.

    The evolution of domain-general mechanisms in intelligence and learning

    Journal of General Psychology

    (2005)
  • C. Christensen

    Effect of color on judgments of food aroma and food intensity in young and elderly adults

    Perception

    (1985)
  • F. Clydesdale

    Color as a factor in food choice

    Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

    (1993)
  • F. Clydesdale

    The influence of colour on sensory perception and food choices

  • F. Clydesdale et al.

    The effect of color on thirst quenching, sweetness, acceptability and flavor intensity in fruit punch flavored beverages

    Journal of Food Quality

    (1992)
  • A. Courtney

    Chinese population stereotypes: Color associations

    Human Factors

    (1986)
  • R. Deliza et al.

    The generation of sensory expectation by external cues and its effect on sensory perception and hedonic ratings: A review

    Journal of Sensory Studies

    (1996)
  • J. Delwiche

    The impact of perceptual interactions on perceived flavor

    Food Quality and Preference

    (2003)
  • M. Demattè et al.

    Cross-modal associations between odors and colors

    Chemical Senses

    (2006)
  • M. Demattè et al.

    Olfactory identification: When does vision matter?

    Chemical Senses

    (2009)
  • C. DuBose et al.

    Effects of colorants and flavorants on identification, perceived flavor intensity, and hedonic quality of fruit-flavored beverages and cake

    Journal of Food Science

    (1980)
  • K. Duncker

    The influence of past experience upon perceptual properties

    American Journal of Psychology

    (1939)
  • A. Elliot et al.

    Approach and avoidance motivation

    Educational Psychology Review

    (2001)
  • A. Elliot et al.

    Color and psychological functioning

    Current Directions in Psychological Science

    (2007)
  • A. Elliot et al.

    Color and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment

    Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

    (2007)
  • R. Frank et al.

    Strawberry odor, but not red color, enhances the sweetness of sucrose solutions

    Chemical Senses

    (1989)
  • J. Frasnelli et al.

    Ortho- and retronasal presentation of olfactory stimuli modulates odor percepts

    Chemosensory Perception

    (2007)
  • R. Frick

    Accepting the null hypothesis

    Memory & Cognition

    (1995)
  • Gal, D., Wheeler, C., & Shiv, B. (submitted for publication). Cross-modal influences on taste perception. Journal of...
  • L. Garber et al.

    Color as a tool for visual persuasion

  • L. Garber et al.

    The effect of food color on perceived flavor

    Journal of Market Theory Practice

    (2000)
  • A. Gilbert et al.

    Cross-modal correspondence between vision and olfaction: The color of smells

    American Journal of Psychology

    (1996)
  • R.L. Hall

    Flavor study approaches at McCormick and Company, Inc.

  • R. Herz et al.

    The influence of verbal labeling on the perception of odors: Evidence for olfactory illusion?

    Perception

    (2001)
  • Cited by (168)

    • On the psychological effects of food color

      2023, Handbook on Natural Pigments in Food and Beverages: Industrial Applications for Improving Food Color, Second Edition
    • Stability characterization and sensory testing in food products containing microencapsulants

      2022, Microencapsulation in the Food Industry: A Practical Implementation Guide
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text