Tasting in 2D: implications of food shape, visual cues, and oral haptic sensory inputs

Courtney Szocs, Dipayan Biswas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Marketers often vary the shape and dimensions of food products. But could changing the shape (e.g., molding food into cubes or rectangular prisms) or altering the dimensions (e.g., cutting food into thicker or thinner pieces) have unintended consequences in terms of influencing consumers’ size perceptions, calorie estimates, or desired consumption volume of the food? Research related to visual inputs and the elongation bias would suggest that thicker and cube-shaped foods would be perceived as larger and higher in calories; however, research related to oral haptic sensory inputs (i.e., the way the food feels in the mouth) would suggest that thinner and rectangular shaped foods would be perceived as larger and higher in calories. We test these competing predictions in a series of three experimental studies and find support for the oral haptic-based hypothesis. Conceptual and managerial implications are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)753-764
Number of pages12
JournalMarketing Letters
Volume27
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Business and International Management
  • Economics and Econometrics
  • Marketing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Tasting in 2D: implications of food shape, visual cues, and oral haptic sensory inputs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this