Children's physiological and behavioural response during the observation, olfaction, manipulation, and consumption of food products with varied textures. Part 2: Solid products

Abstract

Texture is one of the main attributes that determine food preferences in schoolchildren. While texture acceptance and preference has been widely investigated in this target group, the effect of texture on other aspects of the food behaviour is still lacking. In this regard, one previous study evaluated the emotional response elicited by liquid textures showing that thicker liquids are less liked by schoolchildren and generally evoked a more negative emotional response. The current work was designed to extend the research conducted with liquid textures to solid food products. To achieve these goals, 45 children (5-12 yrs old) evaluated three solid products designed to only vary in texture following four sensory tasks: observation, olfaction, manipulation, and consumption. After each sample was tasted, children rated liking with a 7-pt hedonic scale. Facial expressions and Skin Conductance Response (SCR) were monitored during the test, and they were analysed as action units (AUs) and basic emotions as well as changes in SCR. Results showed that the three texture-modified solids tested were equivalently liked by the children. However, the products induced a significantly different emotional response at both unconscious and conscious level measured through automatic facial coding and SCR. The combined method used in this study showed good discrimination ability among the three samples tested, confirming that facial coding and SCR are suitable methods to measure the behavioural and physiological inherent of emotions in schoolchildren in a broad range of sensory tasks, such as the observation, olfaction, manipulation, and consumption of food samples.