Measuring emotional responses to foods and food names using questionnaires

Four experiments examined emotional responses to foods and food concepts (names). Emotional responses varied by foods/food names and included many different emotions. Correlations between foods and corresponding names ranged from +.66 to +.83, while session to session reliability in emotional responses for names ranged from +.50 to +.77 and for foods from +.37 to +.70. Liking ratings for the stimuli correlated highly with emotional valence. Principal Component Analysis uncovered similar dimensions underlying the emotional responses to foods and food names, including a number of positive dimensions and only one negative dimension.

► We examined emotional responses to foods and food concepts (names).
► Emotional responses varied among different foods and different food names.
► Correlations of emotions between foods and corresponding names were high.
► Reliability in emotional responses for both foods and names were high.
► PCA uncovered similar emotion dimensions underlying responses to foods and food names.