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• Taste ratings and WTP for chocolate bars from different economic regions collected. • Opinions of food safety and quality rated higher for bars from developed regions. • Models were run on taste and WTP differences for chocolate from different regions. • Origin labels raised taste evaluations and WTP significantly for Europe and Africa. • Eliminating origin uncertainty can benefit taste impression and WTP across regions. U.S. consumers purchase foods from regions all over the world. The impressions they have of these different regions' economic status and the notions of food quality and safety they attribute to these regions could have a significant impact on their taste perceptions and willingness to pay (WTP). Using chocolate bars, this study examined these issues by comparing the influence of labels for two economically developed (U.S. and Europe) and two developing (Africa and South America) regions. Participants in field experiments sampled both labeled and unlabeled pieces of chocolate bars from each region to complete taste evaluations, while the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism was used to determine WTP for each. Accompanying results showed significantly higher perceived food quality, safety, and economic status for the developed regions. Comparisons between labeled and unlabeled versions of chocolate indicated participants preferred the taste of and were willing to pay more for chocolate from developed regions, with European chocolate first and African chocolate last. In comparing labeled and unlabeled versions of the same chocolate, it was found that origin labels typically raised taste evaluations and WTP significantly. This was counter to hypotheses for developing regions, and suggested consumers appreciate the benefit of origin information. It appears providing origin information can benefit the impression of a food, even in instances where consumers have concerns regarding the region. Implementing voluntary or mandatory labeling could be useful to raise product evaluations even for ones from developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Wrapping paper color did not affect the perceived taste of milk chocolate. • Wrapping paper color affected the perceived taste of bitter but not less bitter chocolate. • Cup color affected the perceived taste of bitter but not less bitter green tea. • In PROP super-tasters, cup color did not affect the perceived taste of green tea. People are sensitive to bitter taste because bitterness serves as a warning sign of poisons. Previous research reported that taste receptors in the oral cavity are more sensitive to bitter taste than to sweet taste. Other sensory systems, i.e., auditory, olfactory, tactile and visual, have also been shown to be involved in the sense of taste, a phenomenon known as cross-modal correspondence. It has been shown that the color of food or its packaging influences taste expectation and perception. However, it remains unknown whether cross-modal correspondence between visual information and taste depends on the degree of bitterness. Here, we investigated the effect of background color on taste using chocolate and green tea with varying bitterness levels. Undergraduate students were asked to evaluate how bitter and how sweet milk chocolate (Experiment 1) or less bitter and bitter chocolate (Experiment 2) tasted when served from black or pink wrapping paper. In Experiment 3, undergraduate students were ask to evaluate how bitter and how sweet less bitter and bitter green tea tasted when served from a clear blue or a clear cup. The experiments showed that when chocolate and green tea were bitter, visual information influenced taste evaluation. In contrast, no visual effect on taste was seen for less bitter chocolate, milk chocolate or less bitter green tea. The results suggest the possibility that cross-modal correspondence of visual information to taste changes depending on the degree of bitterness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Judgments of individual stimuli can depend on the range of stimuli in which they are included. Such range, or contrast, effects have been studied extensively for judgments made within a single session. The present study tested whether stimulus range effects for hedonic judgments might carry-over from one session to another. In two experiments participants evaluated cordials for strength relative to ideal in separate sessions up to one week apart. In Session 1 half of the participants evaluated a range of high concentration cordials (High Group), while half evaluated a low concentration range (Low Group); in Session 2 all participants evaluated the same low concentration range. Both experiments revealed long-term range effects, in that the High Group maintained a higher ideal cordial strength in Session 2. In addition, Experiment 1 showed that the effect is not influenced by inter-session interval, while Experiment 2 revealed that it can transfer across cordials of different color and flavor. This systematic demonstration of long-term range effects has important implications for any evaluation study using multiple sessions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]