A review of the cognitive and sensory cues impacting taste perceptions and consumption

Food has a daily impact on all consumers, requiring frequent evaluations and decisions pre‐consumption, during, and post‐consumption. Given the number of consumer interactions and the complexity of the food consumption process, researchers have increasingly studied food from both a sensory standpoint and cognitive standpoint. In this review, we create a framework for this existing research. Specifically, we discuss research addressing the key sensory drivers of taste perceptions and consumption, including all five senses: vision, olfaction, audition, haptic, and/or taste. We also identify key cognitive contextual drivers of taste perception and consumption within a marketing context, including social cues, atmospherics, branding, and advertising. Building from the extant literature, we generate and propose areas for future food‐related research.