People have noticed that we eat not only to nourish our physical body, but also to get emotional satisfaction or our souls. Recognizing this fact, it is worth noticing that different food affect people`s emotion perception. Thus, different foods have not only different taste, but also different emotional effect, which varies greatly according to our emotional state of mind and mood. Many people find emotional satisfaction while eating special food, which they like most in different life situations in order to feel themselves comfortable.
The previous research about food psychology is about how human emotions have impact on our decision of food. A recent study found that the name of the food affects the expectation and the expectation affects the choice of food (Mijam, 2011). In Christelle’s study about the relationship between food’s name and emotion, he found that the name of the odorant actually has an impact on how people rate the familiarity, acceptability, and typicality of the food. But his work only demonstrated the influence of emotions on food, but not the influence of food on emotions. In the study, the authors show how emotions can affect the desire of eating. In the study, the researchers found that emotions on other people’s faces could influence the desire of the participants to eat the liked food and disliked food. He found that the participants who saw pleasure expression on other people’s faces did not increase the desire to eat the liked food, but after present with a disgust expression the desire to eat significantly dropped. In contrast, for the disliked food the pleasure expression dramatically increases the desire to eat and disgust or neutral expression had no effect on desire to eat disliked food. According to research (Barthomeuf, 2008), emotions generated by different food can be absolutely different and have influence on people`s expression of pleasure or disgust on their faces. Liked and disliked food has different effect not only on emotion perception, but on time perception as well (Gil, 2009). Food and emotions are connected with each other and influenced at each other, what is rather important while making an accent on food like not only the main source of nourishing our bodies, but also our souls.
Different foods affect emotions differently and how the perception of emotions after eating distinguishes from the perception of emotions before eating. The study of how different food affect emotion perception is relatively new, that is why many scholars pay their attention to this phenomenon. As any other research, our study has ambiguities and, therefore, we are going to provide a PROB test with the aim to overcome various uncertainties. During the PROB test the participants exhibit ambiguity attitudes to certain food, which were chosen for the experiment. By observing the behavior and emotions of the participating agents the researcher can identify how selected food, which are different in taste may influence on individuals` emotional perception and mood, as well as their emotional satisfaction or disgust (Bartoshuk et al, 2006). The participants of a PROB test will be shown to different ambiguous expressions and the ambiguity of tastes is supposed to be taken into consideration.
The main objective of a PROB test is to discuss and come to the conclusion which food may have a positive influence on our emotions and which – negative. The participants are supposed to meet in small groups to discuss their emotions and how different and similar food effects their emotional perception. The purpose of the study is to bring together different emotions and perceptions of a PROB test agents and make a scientific analysis as far as our research paper is concerned.