Part One: Introduction 1. Recent advances in consumer research 2. Complexity of consumer perception
Part Two: Qualitative Techniques 3. New approaches to focus groups4. Projective techniques5. Using Ethnography in Consumer Research6. Application of social media for consumer research
Part Three: Liking and Beyond 7. Product performance optimization8. Consumer-based methodologies for sensory characterization9. Dynamics of consumer perception10. Repeated exposure11. Affect-based discrimination methods12. Emotional response to products13. Conceptual associations14. Nudging
Part Four: Consumer Segmentation 15. Statistical approaches for consumer segmentation16. Including context in consumer segmentation: a literature overview shows the what, why and how 17. Oral processing, implications for consumer choice and preferences18. Consumer Segmentation Based on Genetic Variation in Taste and Smell
Part Five: Influence of Extrinsic Product Characteristics 19. Expectations- blind/informed testing20. Conjoint analysis in sensory and consumer science: Principles, applications and future perspectives 21. Credence22. Information Display Matrix23. Experimental economics to evaluate consumer preferences
Gastón Ares works as a professor and researcher in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of the Republic (UdelaR). He works in the area of Sensory and Consumer Science Assessment, working particularly on methodological aspects of new product development and the study of consumer perception. He has extensive experience in research through participation in numerous projects at national and international level. In 2011 he won the prize "Food Quality and Preference Elsevier Award for a Young Researcher". He serves as a reviewer for several journals in the area and is a member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of Sensory Studies journals and Food Quality and Preference.
Paula's research has focused on the exploration of new methodologies to further understanding sensory and consumer perception, in particular sensory descriptive techniques with the use of consumers and the influence of non-sensory parameters in consumer food choice. She is a member of the Editorial Board and Guest Editor of Food Research International and of Current Opinion in Food Science. She also has a part-time associate professor position in in sensory and consumer science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU).