Temporal aspects of consumer preferences

• The few studies on temporal aspects of preferences differ widely in their design.
• Whatever the method, the feasibility of dynamic hedonic measures seems to be established.
• First impressions seem to be critical in the construction of judgment.
• Dynamic data seem to be more discriminant that simple overall liking.
• Psychological processes of judgment construction are insufficiently considered.

Although eating obviously implies dynamic physical, sensory and physiological phenomena, the temporal aspects of the hedonic response while eating have received little attention. Some researchers however have recently tried to monitor liking dynamically. To this end, they used methods that range from computerized continuous recording of liking to independent measurements at different durations. These studies raise interesting questions about the temporal aspects of preferences, but it is yet difficult to conclude about the added value of such measurements, mainly because of a lack of systematic approaches with similar food stimuli. The relevance of such measurements focusing on the evaluation of a single bite or sip is questioned. Unfortunately, the research conducted so far completely overlook psychological aspects of judgment construction.