Flavour sensory qualities and consumer perceptions – a comparison of sensory and brain activity responses to flavour components in different populations

This paper explores the relationship between odour responses of naïve consumers to different flavour components, by investigating the ability of sensory ratings and brain recording techniques to reveal differences in responses associated with differences in background and experience. Two groups of naïve consumers (Australian and Overseas students from Asian/South-east Asian background; all untrained in sensory work) participated in sensory ratings and brain electrical activity [electroencephalogram (EEG)] recordings of responses to the odours of four flavour components. Results indicated no significant differences in rating responses between cultural groups, but did reveal significant brain electrical activity differences between cultural groups in response to para-cresol, and a similar (nonsignificant) trend in responses to 2-heptanone and dimethyltrisulphide. These results suggest that the application of EEG techniques to sensory analysis has the potential to provide physiological evidence of cultural differences in odour responsiveness that cannot always be discriminated by subjective reports.