Identification of drivers of (dis)liking based on dynamic sensory profiles: Comparison of Temporal Dominance of Sensations and Temporal Check-all-that-apply

- TDS and TCATA were compared in terms of their ability to identify drivers of liking.
- The main drivers of liking and disliking were similar for both methodologies.
- Differences between the methodologies in minor attributes were found.
- Attribute applicability in TCATA identified more drivers of (dis)liking than dominance.
- TCATA provided more information when heterogeneity in consumer liking existed.

Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) and Temporal Check-all-that-apply (TCATA) are two multi-attribute methods for dynamic sensory characterization. Previous research has shown that both methodologies provide complementary information. However, it remains an open question which of the two approaches better explains consumers' hedonic perception of products. In this context, the aim of the present work was to compare TDS and TCATA in terms of their ability to identify the influence of the dynamic sensory profile of food products on consumer overall liking scores. Two consumer studies were conducted using two different product categories (French bread and vanilla milk desserts). In each study, a between-subjects design was used to obtain dynamic sensory profiles using TDS and TCATA. After the dynamic sensory characterization tasks consumers rated their liking using a 9-point hedonic scale. Across the two studies, both methodologies provided similar information on the main drivers of liking and disliking, particularly when samples showed clear differences in liking. However, in one of the studies attribute applicability from TCATA provided additional insights on the influence of the dynamics of the sensory characteristics of products on consumers' liking. Results of the present work stress the complementarity between TCATA and TDS and highlight the potentiality of TCATA to provide a more detailed description of the dynamics of sensory perception during consumption.