Sensory cues are often encountered sequentially (rather than simultaneously) in retailing, food packaging, and other consumption contexts. While prior studies on effects of sensory cues have examined scenarios where the sensory cues are encountered simultaneously, this research takes the novel approach of examining order effects of different sensory cues encountered sequentially. Specifically, four experiments examine the effects of sequentially encountered visual and olfactory sensory cues on food taste perception. We theorize and find empirical evidence that an olfactory cue benefits from first encountering a visual cue, but not vice versa. More specifically, encountering a visual cue before (vs. after) an olfactory cue (i.e., V-O vs. O-V sequence) results in more positive outcomes (higher taste perception, volume consumed, product recommendation, and choice). Moreover, ease of processing the olfactory cue mediates the effect of sensory cue sequence on taste perception. These findings highlight the sensory cross-modal effects of sequential visual and olfactory cues on gustatory perceptions and have implications for consumer well-being as well as for food/beverage packaging and for designing retail outlets and restaurants.

中文翻译：

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顺序感官线索对食物味觉感知的影响：视觉和嗅觉刺激之间的跨模式相互作用

在零售、食品包装和其他消费环境中，感官线索通常会依次（而不是同时）遇到。虽然在感官提示的效果前，研究探讨了其中的感官线索同时遇到的情况，该研究以考察遇到的不同感官提示的顺序效果的新方法顺序. 具体来说，四个实验检查了依次遇到的视觉和嗅觉感官线索对食物味觉感知的影响。我们理论化并找到了经验证据，表明嗅觉线索从第一次遇到视觉线索中受益，但反之则不然。更具体地说，在嗅觉线索（即 VO 与 OV 序列）之前（与之后）遇到视觉线索会导致更积极的结果（更高的味觉、消费量、产品推荐和选择）。此外，处理嗅觉线索的容易程度介导了感官线索序列对味觉的影响。