The Perception - Artificial Human Sensors: Science and Applications - page 60

Figure 3.4. The Nobel dinner is a distinguished part of the Nobel ceremony. Image cour-
tesy of Fabian Seitz. · 2010 Fabian Seitz. All rights reserved.

customers needs and requirements. The food industry uses food analysis as a pow-
erful tool for the development of new or improved products and the exploration
of consumer preferences and acceptances within the field of marketing, Lawless
(1999). A commonly used definition of sensory analysis is referred to as a scientific
method used to evoke, measure, analyse, and interpret those responses to products
as perceived through the senses of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. The sen-
sory analysis concerns the human sensory system related expectations of a specific
product, and may be seen as a perceptual verification of the expected sensations.
This can be performed by human panels comprising both experts and consumers,
as well as by sensory analysis instruments (or a combination of these). The food
sensory sciences, on the other hand, involve some kind of a three parts relationship
between a specific product, the consuming person involved and a social relation-
ship to the environment, including other individuals sharing this perception. This
relationship could be seen as a joint three-interface process. For example, the syn-
ergies focus on the relationship between the chemical properties of products in a
product or meal and their sensory sensations. Important factors also concern re-
garding how an individual consumer perceives the product, and finally how the
social perception is experienced by interacting with the environment, Fig. 3.5. A
meal experience is also dependent on the atmosphere in the room, verifying that
other people have the same feeling and hopefully enjoy the situation, like friends
around a dinner table. The five characteristics of the meal can be seen as a model to
define the entirety of the experience by contributing to define the social perception
when enjoying the company of family or friends.
The three interfaces described in a sensory analysis are a very useful combina-