EMG assessment of chewing behaviour for food evaluation: Influence of personality characteristics

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the chewing behaviour stability over time and the influence of personality characteristics on chewing behaviour in order to assess the use of EMG for food assessment. From a set of eighty three subjects, thirty-two subjects were classified as personality type A or B (Jenkins Activity Survey questionnaire) and then recruited for the experimentation. Two types of assays were performed: Assay I: chewing gum for 10 chews and Assay II: chewing gum for 50 s. Only in two cases (6.3%) did the subject change his/her chewing behaviour; in the other cases, subjects’ chewing behaviour was stable over time (two months test). In both assays significant differences between the personality groups were found in terms of the EMG parameters. Discriminant and K-means cluster analysis confirmed the role of personality traits on the chewing behaviour of the subjects. Thus, personality traits should be considered for panel selection and/or data analysis.