Do difference tests predict ecologic consumers' discrimination performance?
Résumé
This study investigates participants’ ability to discriminate between a drink they regularly consume and slightly varied versions of this drink. Two kinds of tests are compared: a difference test (“Is the product that I am tasting identical to or different from the reference given by the experimenter?”), classically used to test discrimination between an “old” product and a one produced with a new process or recipe, and a memory test (“Is the product that I am tasting identical to or different from the one I regularly consume?”), much more close to consumers’ natural situation of comparison of a new product with an “old” one. This study revealed that difference test results do not predict discrimination ability that occurs in a much more natural context of decision such as memory test, suggesting that memory tests could be preferred to classic difference tests when producers want to check if consumers discriminate between an old and a new formula of a product.