Pupillometry of taste: Methodological guide – from acquisition to data processing - and toolbox for MATLAB

Abstract

The food sensory science community has recently shown an increasing interest towards the measurement of emotions induced by product consumption. In this paper, we propose a standard method to objectively and quantitatively explore emotions in tasting situations through measurement and analysis of pupil diameter. Pupillometry is a well-known method for investigating cognitive load and emotional effects. However, since a standard method to analyze pupil response data is lacking, we provide here a guided methodology, from data acquisition to data processing. An example of an application is also provided. The advantages and major drawbacks of this method are discussed.