Can the image of food mislead the brain? Neurogastronomy research with EEG and emotion recognition

This is a research conducted in the discipline of neurogastronomy, which studies how food presentation affects our brains, using traditional sensory assessment, EEG, and measures of emotion recognition technology to probe how visual presentation affects tastes and emotions. With 21 participants, taste scores, brain waves, and facial expressions were measured during three separate eating experiences of the same meal. The results showed that visual presentation had a significant effect on both taste perception and emotional experiences. Thus, liking and positive emotional response were both significantly influenced by the visual appearance of the food, such that foods rated as most visually appealing were more likely to be liked and evoke more positive emotional responses. These results underscore the role that visual aesthetics have in augmenting consumer satisfaction. It is asserted that the findings add to the body of literature on neurogastronomy and help build understanding on how food presentation impacts brain and behavior. The research offers an innovative and unique methodology regarding experimental neurogastronomy, which is a significant gap in the literature.