Science Spark : Packaging design influences taste expectation

Imagine you want to buy a dessert, but are affraid of something too sweet. You are in the shop, in the right hand a cake with a rounded shape box, in the left hand a similar cake, with a normal rectangular box. Which one do you take?

The second one, according to Prof Charles Spence and his team, working at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford. In their recent study "Predictive packaging design: Tasting shapes, typefaces, names, and sounds", they wanted to assess how rounded vs. angular shapes, typefaces, and names, and high vs. low pitched sounds, can be combined in order to convey information about the taste (sweetness and sourness) of a product.

They highlighted the following:

• People tend to match tastes crossmodally to other sensory features.
• Rounded shapes, typefaces, and names, and low-pitched sounds enhance sweetness expectation.
• Angular shapes, typefaces, and names, and high-pitched sounds enhance sourness expectation.
• The different sensory features associated to a product’s packaging influence taste expectations.

Predictive packaging design: Tasting shapes, typefaces, names, and sounds, Velasco et al, Food Quality and Preferences, Volume 34, June 2014, Pages 88–95