Moreover, ease of processing the olfactory cue mediates the effect of sensory cue sequence on taste perception. O-V sequence) results in more positive outcomes (higher taste perception, volume consumed, product recommendation, and choice). More specifically, encountering a visual cue before (vs. We theorize and find empirical evidence that an olfactory cue benefits from first encountering a visual cue, but not vice versa. Specifically, four experiments examine the effects of sequentially encountered visual and olfactory sensory cues on food taste perception.

While prior studies on effects of sensory cues have examined scenarios where the sensory cues are encountered simultaneously, this research takes the novel approach of examining order effects of different sensory cues encountered sequentially.

Sensory cues are often encountered sequentially (rather than simultaneously) in retailing, food packaging, and other consumption contexts.