The influence of the feel of product packaging on the perception of the oral-somatosensory texture of food Betina Piqueras-Fiszman a,b,⇑ , Charles Spence b a Department of Engineering Projects, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain b Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD, UK article info Article history: Received 24 February 2012 Received in revised form 30 March 2012 Accepted 1 April 2012 Available online 7 April 2012 Keywords: Haptic input Texture Consumer behaviour Sensation transference Perception abstract Most of the published research on the perception of food texture has focused on what happens in-mouth during consumption. It is, however, important to note that people’s judgments of food texture can also be influenced by other sensory cues, such as haptic input, be it their direct contact with the food, or possibly also their indirect contact with the product packaging as well. The aim of the present study was to inves- tigate whether changing the surface texture of the product packaging would affect people’s perception of the product contained within—that is, we wanted to know whether the feel of the packaging held in a consumer’s hand would influence the perceived texture of the food. Participants tasted biscuits and yoghurt samples from pots (yoghurt containers) that varied in terms of their surface texture (rough/gran- ular vs. smooth). Additionally, the foodstuffs also varied in terms of their texture (crunchiness and thick- ness, respectively). In a 2 Â 2 experimental design, the participants assessed the texture of the foodstuff and their liking for it while holding the pot in their non-dominant hand. The results revealed that the tex- ture of the container influenced participants’ ratings of certain of the texture attributes being assessed, namely the most related ones. These findings shed light on the importance of nondiagnostic haptic cues (defined as those that objectively should not identify or prompt any effect) in the perception of food. These results, explained in terms of sensation transference, could have important implications for the food packaging and hospitality sectors. Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Texture plays a crucial role in determining food quality, its acceptance by consumers, and eventually their preferences (e.g., Guinard & Mazzuchelli, 1996; Szczesniak, 2002). Bourne (1975, p. 259) defined food texture as ‘the response of the tactile senses to physical stimuli that result from contact between some part of the body and the food’. Other researchers have also included a contribu- tion from the other senses, such as vision, hearing, olfaction, and kinesthesia in their definition (e.g., see Szczesniak, 1990). So, for example, Bult, de Wijk, and Hummel (2007) demonstrated that the perceived thickness and creaminess of milk-like products could be influenced by the retronasal presentation of an olfactory stimu- lus (namely, a cream odour). This effect was absent when the odour was presented while the product entered the mouth, in- creased when it coincided with oral mastication, and was most pronounced when it was presented while the participants were swallowing. Similarly, Zampini and Spence (2004, 2005) have demonstrated that people’s ratings of the crispness of potato chips and the carbonation of a fizzy beverage (cf. Chandrashekar et al., 2009) can also be modified as a function of the crisp-biting or car- bonation sounds that they happen to hear. The majority of the published research on the perception of food texture has focused on what occurs inside the mouth and hence on the mechanoreceptors (located around the oral cavity) in- volved in that phase of consumption. However, it is important to note that people can also evaluate a food’s texture using their other senses, including vision, hearing, and via non-oral haptic informa- tion (e.g., while handling a foodstuff with the hands or else with utensils, such as, for example, cutlery). Focusing attention on the latter, it has recently been demonstrated that the haptic informa- tion we receive from our hands while eating can affect the percep- tion of the texture of whatever we happen to be eating. In one intriguing study, Barnett-Cowan (2010) had blindfolded partici- pants rate the freshness/staleness and the crispness/softness of a series of pretzels while biting into either the fresh or stale end of a pretzel. Barnett-Cowan manipulated the congruency between the tactile/haptic information provided to the participants’ hand and that provided to their mouth. In half of the trials, the partici- pants were given a half fresh-half stale pretzel (incongruent condi- tions); whereas in the remainder of the trials, they were given 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2012.04.002 ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Engineering Projects, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain. Tel.: +34 669274990; fax: +34 963636301. E-mail address: bepifis@upvnet.upv.es (B. Piqueras-Fiszman). Food Quality and Preference 26 (2012) 67–73 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual