Taste the joy: How multisensory simulation enhances young adults' hedonic expectations for healthy foods

Consumers’ heightened hedonic expectations for unhealthy foods drive unhealthy choices, making boosting healthy foods’ hedonic expectations a pivotal goal for promoting healthier eating. This research proposes that multisensory simulation, the imagining of multisensory experiences triggered by cues, can elevate hedonic expectations and promote healthier choices by evoking positive sensory associations with healthy foods. However, prior research has primarily applied multisensory simulation defensively to counter unhealthy foods, overlooking its potential to proactively cultivate hedonic appeal for healthy options. Hence, two pre-registered experiments were conducted to explore how multisensory simulation influences foods’ hedonic expectations under varying quantities and modalities of sensory cues, as well as the effectiveness of different sensory cue acquisition methods (indirect vs. direct). Experiment 1 (N = 48) demonstrated that multisensory simulation using sensory descriptors significantly enhanced hedonic expectations for healthy foods, peaking at three cues. Building on the finding of optimal cue quantity, Experiment 2 (N = 144) further determined the most effective sensory modality combination. It found that multisensory simulation involving direct sensory contact with healthy foods also improved hedonic expectations, with the visual-auditory-olfactory combination proving the most effective. In conclusion, this research elucidates the mechanisms underlying multisensory simulation in enhancing consumers’ hedonic expectations toward healthy foods while proposing an effective approach for promoting healthy eating, which is expected to fundamentally reverse the cognitive belief of “health = unpleasure” by increasing hedonic expectations of healthy foods.