Sensory and consumer sciences seek to comprehend the influences of sensory perception on consumer behaviors such as product liking and purchase. The food industry assesses product liking through hedonic testing but often does not capture affectual response as it pertains to product-generated (PG) and product-associated (PA) emotions. This research sought to assess the application of PA and PG emotion methodology to better understand consumer experiences. A systematic review of the existing literature was performed that focused on the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) and its use to investigate consumer affect and characterize human emotional response to product-based stimuli, which revealed inconsistencies in how FACS is carried out as well as how emotional response is inferred from Action Unit (AU) activation. Automatic Facial Expression Analysis (AFEA), which automates FACS and translates the facial muscular positioning into the basic universal emotions, was then used in a two-part study. In the first study (n=50 participants), AFEA, a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) emotions questionnaire, and a Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT) were used to characterize the relationship between PA as well as PG emotions and consumer behavior (acceptability, purchase intent) towards milk in various types of packaging (k=6). The ST-IAT did not yield significant PA emotions for packaged milk (p>0.05), but correspondence analysis of CATA data produced PA emotion insights including term selection based on arousal and underlying approach/withdrawal motivation related to packaging pigmentation. Time series statistical analysis of AFEA data provided increased insights on significant emotion expression, but the lack of difference (p>0.05) between certain expressed emotions that maintain no related AUs, such as happy and disgust, indicates that AFEA software may not be identifying AUs and determining emotion-based inferences in agreement with FACS. In the second study, AFEA data from the sensory evaluation (n=48 participants) of light-exposed milk stimuli (k=4) stored in packaging with various light-blocking properties) underwent time series statistical analysis to determine if the sensory-engaging nature of control stimuli could impact time series statistical analysis of AFEA data. When compared against the limited sensory engaging (blank screen) control, contempt, happy, and angry were expressed more intensely (p<0.025) and with greater incidence for the light-exposed milk stimuli; neutral was expressed exclusively in the same manner for the blank screen. Comparatively, intense neutral expression (p<0.025) was brief, fragmented, and often accompanied by intense (albeit fleeting) expressions of happy, sad, or contempt for the sensory engaging control (water); emotions such as surprised, scared, and sad were expressed similarly for the light-exposed milk stimuli. As such, it was determined that care should be taken while comparing the control and experimental stimuli in time series analysis as facial activation of muscles/AUs related to sensory perception (e.g., chewing, smelling) can impact the resulting interpretation. Collectively, the use of PA and PG emotion methodology provided additional insights on consumer-product related behaviors. However, it is hard to conclude whether AFEA is yielding emotional interpretations based on true facial expression of emotion or facial actions related to sensory perception for consumer products such as foods and beverages. / Doctor of Philosophy / Sensory and consumer sciences seek to comprehend the influences of sensory perception on consumer behaviors such as product liking and purchase. The food industry assesses product liking through consumer testing but often does not capture consumer response as it pertains to emotions such as those experienced while directly interacting with a product (i.e., product-generated emotions, PG) or those attributed to the product based on external information such as branding, marketing, nutrition, social environment, physical environment, memories, etc.( product-associated emotions, PA). This research investigated the application of PA and PG emotion methodology to better understand consumer experiences. A systematic review of the existing scientific literature was performed that focused on the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), a process used determine facially expressed emotion from facial muscular positioning, and its use to investigate consumer behavior and characterize human emotional response to product-based stimuli; the review revealed inconsistencies in how FACS is carried out as well as how emotional response is determined from facial muscular activation. Automatic Facial Expression Analysis (AFEA), which automates FACS, was then used in a two-part study. In the first study (n=50 participants), AFEA, a Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) emotions questionnaire, and a Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT) were used to characterize the relationship between PA as well as PG emotions and consumer behavior (acceptability, purchase intent) towards milk in various types of packaging (k=6). While the ST-IAT did not yield significant results (p>0.05), CATA data produced illustrated term selection based on motivation to approach and/or withdrawal from milk based on packaging color. Additionally, the lack of difference (p>0.05) between emotions that do not produce similar facial muscle activations, such as happy and disgust, indicates that AFEA software may not be determining emotions as outlined in the established FACS procedures. In the second study, AFEA data from the sensory evaluation (n=48 participants) of light-exposed milk stimuli (k=4) stored in packaging with various light blocking properties underwent time series statistical analysis to determine if the nature of the control stimulus itself could impact the analysis of AFEA data. When compared against the limited sensory engaging control (a blank screen), contempt, happy, and angry were expressed more intensely (p<0.025) and consistently for the light-exposed milk stimuli; neutral was expressed exclusively in the same manner for the blank screen. Comparatively, intense neutral expression (p<0.025) was brief, fragmented, and often accompanied by intense (although fleeting) expressions of happy, sad, or contempt for the sensory engaging control (water); emotions such as surprised, scared, and sad were expressed similarly for the light-exposed milk stimuli. As such, it was determined that care should be taken as facial activation of muscles/AUs related to sensory perception (e.g., chewing, smelling) can impact the resulting interpretation. Collectively, the use of PA and PG emotion methodology provided additional insights to consumer-product related behaviors. However, it is hard to conclude whether AFEA is yielding emotional interpretations based on true facial expression of emotion or facial actions related to sensory perception for sensory engaging consumer products such as foods and beverages.

Food flavor is hugely important in motivating food choice and eating behavior. Unfortunately for research and communication about flavor, many languages' flavor vocabularies are notoriously variable and must be aligned before data collection using training or after the fact by researchers. This dissertation demonstrates one example of each approach (conventional descriptive analysis (DA) and labeled free sorting, respectively), and compares their use to emerging, computational natural language processing (NLP) methods that use large volumes of existing text data. Rapid methods that align flavor vocabulary after data collection are most similar to NLP, and with the development or improvement of some strategic tools, NLP is well-poised to further accelerate the analysis of existing text data or unaligned vocabularies. DA, while much more time-consuming, ensures that the researchers, tasters, and readers have a shared definition of any flavor words used, an advantage that all existing rapid methods lack. With a greater understanding of how this differs from everyday communication about flavor, future researchers may be able to replicate this aspect of DA in novel descriptive methods. This dissertation investigates the flavors of specialty beverages, specifically American whiskeys and cold brew coffees. American whiskeys differ from other whiskeys based on raw materials and aging practices, with the aging practices primarily setting them apart. While the most expensive American whiskeys are similar to Scotches and dominated by oaky, sultana-like flavors, only very rich consumers desire these flavors, with chocolate and caramel being the most widely preferred by most consumers. Degree of roasting has more of an impact on cold brew coffee flavor than the origin of the beans, and the coffee consumers surveyed here preferred dark roast to light roast cold brews. / Doctor of Philosophy / Food flavor is hugely important in motivating food choice and eating behavior. Unfortunately for research and communication about flavor, many languages' flavor vocabularies are notoriously inconsistent: flavor words may have more than one meaning, multiple words may mean the same thing, and people regularly make mistakes when naming flavors. To get around this, researchers can either train human tasters to use a fixed set of flavor words, or they can attempt to identify the flavors that people are talking about from their own-words descriptions. In this dissertation, I give examples of both of these methods and compare them to approaches based on machine learning and other computational techniques. This dissertation investigates the flavors of specialty beverages, specifically American whiskeys and cold brew coffees. American whiskeys differ from other whiskeys based on raw materials and aging practices, with the aging practices primarily setting them apart. Producers wanting to set their whiskeys apart with the use of specialty or heritage grains will likely need to work with breeders to develop new varieties that will impart special flavors to the whiskeys. While the most expensive American whiskeys are similar to Scotches and dominated by oaky, sultana-like flavors, only very rich consumers desire these flavors, with chocolate and caramel being the most widely preferred by most consumers. For cold brew coffees, degree of roasting has more of an impact on flavor than the origin of the beans, although a subset of people sense and prioritize origin-related flavor differences when making flavor groups. The coffee consumers surveyed here preferred dark roast to light roast cold brews, which suggests that different beans are ideal for making well-liked cold brew coffee than traditional hot brew.

<p>  </p> <p>The ever-growing interest in novel food ingredients and their dietary influence on human health and wellbeing has driven the study of bioactive peptides (BAP). BAP are protein-derived fragments composed of (2-20 amino acids) that could positively affect bodily function and chronic diseases. This dissertation explores the health-promoting properties of a novel source of BAPs, namely canary seed, by encompassing three specific aims: 1) evaluate the <em>in vitro </em>potential of hairless canary seed peptides (CSP) as a nutraceutical ingredient, 2) develop an understanding of CSP's bioavailability and molecular interactions with its biological targets, and 3) evaluate CSP's antioxidant and antiobesity activity at the organism level using a nematode (<em>C. elegans</em>) and murine (C57BL/6J mice) model, respectively. First, CSP were generated by implementing mechanical oil extraction followed by commercial enzymatic hydrolysis with Alcalase™. In addition, CSP were also subject to simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGD) to assess their gastric stability and <em>in vitro</em> bioavailability. The results showed that canary seed proteins were mainly composed of prolamins fractions followed by glutelins, globulins, and albumins. CSP extracts with low molecular weight (< 3 kDa and 3–10 kDa) showed the highest bioactivity. Furthermore, after SGD, CSP inhibitory activity remained stable toward angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV), and pancreatic lipase but unstable for α-glucosidase. The digested peptides were transported efficiently (>10%) through the Caco-2 monolayer, indicating a potential high absorption capacity through the intestinal epithelium. During kinetic analysis by Lineweaver-Burk plots, it was observed that CSP-SGD interacted by mixed-type inhibition for DPP-IV and α-glucosidase, non-competitive inhibition for ACE, and uncompetitive inhibitor for pancreatic lipase. Furthermore, CSP-SGD were especially potent as antihypertensive (ACE inhibitors) and antiobesity (pancreatic lipase) agents. Consequently, molecular docking and <em>in silico</em> analyses were targeted to understand CSP-SGD interactions with ACE and pancreatic lipase. CSP-SGD with ACE inhibitory activity were found to be rich in proline, glutamine, and cationic residues and could have inhibited ACE by destabilizing the tetrahedral transition state and zinc ions interaction leading to conformational changes in the enzyme structure. For peptides with antiobesity properties, it was also found that arginine, glycine, and hydrophobic amino acids from CSP-SGD hold critical interactions with the lid domain (CYS238-CYS262) of pancreatic lipase, disrupting its proper function and preventing fat hydrolysis.</p> <p>In the second part of this dissertation, the relevant health-promoting properties of CSP were further investigated by testing the effects of peptide supplementation on obesity and oxidative stress animal models. The studies showed that exposure to CSP significantly mitigated the acute and chronic oxidative damage in <em>C. elegans</em>, extending the lifespan of the nematodes by 88 and 61%, respectively. Furthermore, it was established that the CSP prevented oxidative stress by scavenging free radicals and antioxidant gene upregulation. Concerning this, CSP caused a drop in reactive oxygen species (ROS) to safe levels and induce the upregulation of the GST-4 gene encoding antioxidant enzyme Glutathione S-transferase. Concerning antiobesity properties, the daily supplementation with CSP successfully prevented metabolic implications of western diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6J mice, including preventing weight gain by up to 20%, increasing glucose tolerance, and reducing insulin, leptin, and LDL/VLDL levels in plasma. Likewise, CSP promoted a drop in fatty acid uptake gene, LPL, and fatty acid biosynthesis genes FAS and ACC while unaffecting lipid oxidation genes PPAR-α and ACO in the liver. While both moderate and high CSP supplementation levels exhibit hypolipidemic effects, only moderate levels induce satiety and significantly prevent weight gain. Together, these results suggest that CSP's weight gain prevention depended on a dual mechanism involving lipid metabolism retardation to modulate satiety. Overall, the results presented in this dissertation establish the effectiveness of canary seed peptides as nutraceutical ingredients for antioxidant and antiobesity functional food applications.</p>

<p>  </p> <p>Pacheco, Kathryn Nichole. M.S. Purdue University, December 2022. Snacking Interventions Differentially Influence Saliva, Salivary Alpha Amylase Activity, and Sensation. Major Professor Dr. Cordelia A. Running.</p> <p>Human saliva contains the enzyme alpha amylase, which greatly influences many facets of human health such as digestion, absorption of nutrients, and the sensory perception of certain foods. However, the complex relationships between chewing behavior, food texture preference, and salivary amylase require further investigation. In this study, we aim to observe salivary alpha amylase through a simple assay using pudding, and to examine whether salivary amylase activity relates to diet, the sensory properties of starchy foods, or mouth behavior. We hypothesized that the pudding/salivary amylase activity assay would show more activity (less pudding remaining) 1) at the end of the high dietary starch intervention week, with little or no change from baseline to the end of the low dietary starch intervention week and 2) for people with greater baseline starch consumption compared to less baseline starch consumption. A counter-balanced, crossover design was implemented for the study. 34 participants (11 Men, 23 Women, 0 Other) completed study tasks, consisting of a 3-day dietary recall, 2 separate weeks of dietary intervention consisting of high starch or low starch snacks, and 4 research visits. These research visits included participant taste and smell acuity assessments, sensory ratings of the study foods, a mouth behavior typing test, and our salivary amylase activity assay that determined flow rate of a mixture of participant saliva and starch-containing ready-to-eat pudding. After our higher and lower starch snack interventions, we saw minimal evidence of changes to salivary amylase activity in our assay; the only trend we observed was opposite our expectation (less amylase activity after the low starch intervention). However, we did observe mouth behavior grouping tended to associate with sensory ratings that validate the premise of the mouth behavior typing tool we utilized. Ultimately, more work on the consistency and usefulness of the salivary amylase activity assay will need to be conducted if it is to be utilized for research purposes, but our data do help validate the concept that different people prefer foods due to their preferred methods of orally manipulating foods. r.  </p>

<p dir="ltr">Bean flour possesses a significant fraction of water-insoluble components that are known to limit its uses in food applications. This study aimed to determine if using specific enzymes targeting the dietary fiber of bean flour could increase solubility, release protein and starch, and improve its utilization as a replacement for soy protein isolates in meat analogues. Water solubility, protein solubility, starch content and texture of bean flour was measured after enzymatic treatment with pectin- or hemicellulose-degrading enzymes in aqueous suspension. Low moisture reactive extrusion trials ranged from 60-80% solid content at 2 % enzyme content. High moisture extrusion ranged from 30% solid content from 1.5 to 5% enzyme content and from 40 % solid content at 2% enzyme content. Water solubility and insoluble protein increased with both low and high moisture reactive extrusion. Starch content increased with high moisture reactive extrusion. Beta-glucanase increased starch and insoluble protein content more than polygalacturonase treatments. However, Polygalacturonase and beta-glucanase increased overall water-solubility similarly. Determined starch content decreased with low moisture extrusion and both enzymes behaved equally. In the final set of trials, meat analogues were prepared with wheat gluten in combination with soy protein isolate, bean flour, or a mixture of soy protein isolate and bean flour. Replacing soy protein isolate with bean flour in meat analogues provided comparable hardness and anisotropic index. Polygalacturonase and beta-glucanase treatments during reactive extrusion of bean flours both decreased hardness of bean-containing meat analogues; beta-glucanase decreased the anisotropic index, whereas analogues made from polygalacturonase-treated flour did not differ from the control. Therefore, reactive extrusion showed either negative or null impact on texture. Reactive extrusion with polygalacturonase and beta-glucanase improved some desired analytical targets for bean flours, but the practical application (meat analogue) did not demonstrate an improvement.</p>

L'un des défis actuels de la chimie alimentaire est de développer des produits avec une qualité sanitaire et sensorielle optimale. Ceci est particulièrement important dans les produits traités thermiquement, tels que les produits céréaliers. Lors de la cuisson et à partir des ingrédients, un nombre considérable de composés peuvent se former. Certains suscitent une préoccupation sanitaire émergente, lorsque d'autres jouent un rôle sensoriel indéniable. Comprendre la réactivité des constituants devient alors un levier puissant pour développer des voies d'amélioration des aliments. Ce travail porte sur les effets des ingrédients et conditions de cuisson dans la génération de furane, composé possiblement cancérigène, et furfural, composé odorant contribuant à l'arôme caractéristique de la génoise. Afin de maîtriser la réactivité et ainsi optimiser la qualité des produits, une approche globale a été adoptée, incluant l'étude des composés volatils, des propriétés physicochimiques et sensorielles et l'appréciation hédonique des consommateurs. Ce travail propose une méthodologie et ouvre des pistes intéressantes pour développer des stratégies efficaces de maîtrise de la qualité globale des produits transformés. / A current challenge for food chemists consists in developing safe yet appealing food. This is particularly difficult in thermally-treated foods, like baked products, since a great number of compounds may be produced during heating. While some of these are of health concern, others contribute to other key aspects of quality, such as aroma or color, revealing the need of considering reactivity into food quality design. This work deals with the effects of formulation and baking conditions on the generation of furan, a heatinduced contaminant, and furfural, contributing typical aroma to sponge cake. Moreover, a holistic approach was adopted, covering volatile generation, physical properties, sensory evaluation and consumer tests, both for further understanding reactivity and optimizing product quality. This work is certainly an important step towards the development of novel strategies for qualitydriven design of heat-treated food.

<p>  </p> <p>  In this study, whey protein isolate (WPI) and high gellan gum (HAGG) were selected as natural ingredients to produce food-grade biopolymer particles for stabilizing the air-water interface. To achieve this, different mixing ratios of WPI and HAGG were employed, and heat treatment was implemented at different pH levels under the same concentration based on investigations of the pH-driven phase behavior of the WPI/HAGG complex system. The resulting WPI/HAGG complex particles were then evaluated for their ability to stabilize air-water interfaces by measuring their foaming properties.</p> <p><br></p> <p>  Foams generated using 0.1% (wt/wt) WPI/HAGG complex particles, heated at pH 5 with the mixing ratio 2:1 has demonstrated enhanced stability over a period of 30 hours compared to the WPI alone. The unique properties of these complex particles, including their smaller size (around 500nm), greater negative charge (more negative than -30 mV), and compact spherical core-shell structure, along with the higher viscosity in the continuous phase as well as the presence of small protein particles and gellan chains at the interface, collectively contribute to their superior performance as foam stabilizers. This allows for the creation of aerated food products with desirable characteristics, including product handling, enhanced texture, and prolonged shelf life in food industry.</p>

<p>  </p> <p>Appetitive sensations are widely viewed as important signals for eating decisions. Intra- and inter-individual variability have been reported in short-term studies, but it is still unknown whether individual differences are consistent over time and, whether individuals at the appetite extremes vary in energy intake. Therefore, a seventeen-week observational study was conducted to examine the stability of appetitive sensations (hunger, fullness, and thirst), implications of individual differences in appetite on energy intake and eating patterns, as well as associations between appetitive sensations and selected individual characteristics (age, gender, BMI). </p> <p>Ninety-seven (90 completers) healthy adults recorded the intensity of their hunger, fullness, and thirst hourly during all waking hours and reported their energy intake  for three days at weeks 1, 9 and 17. There were marked and stable inter-individual differences for each sensation over the 17 weeks: hunger (ANOVA, p<0.001, correlation coefficients of ratings between weeks: week 1 vs week 9, r=0.72 (p<0.001), week 1 vs week 17, r=0.67 (p<0.001), week 9 vs week 17, r=0.77 (p<0.001)), fullness (ANOVA, p<0.001, correlation coefficients of ratings between weeks: week 1 vs week 9 r=0.74 (p<0.001), week 1 vs week 17, r=0.71 (p<0.001), week 9 vs week 17, r=0.81 (p<0.001)), and thirst (ANOVA, p<0.001, correlation coefficients of ratings between weeks: week 1 vs week 9 r=0.82 (p<0.001), week 1 vs week 17, r=0.81 (p<0.001), week 9 vs week 17, r=0.88 (p<0.001)). Cross-correlation functions revealed energy intake and eating pattern exerted stronger effects on appetitive sensations than the reverse. However, the absolute effect sizes of the directional effects were small. No robust effects of the studied individual characteristics (gender, age, BMI) were observed. The primary finding is that acute and chronic sensations of hunger, fullness and thirst are stable across individuals, but are poor predictors of energy intake. </p> <p>This dissertation focuses on the study above, but as part of the training experience, two additional studies were conducted. One entailed appetite concept training to improve the validity of appetite measurements. A potential barrier to accurate appetite measurement is low conceptual understanding by study participants and resulting poor sensitivity and accuracy of responses. While each appetitive sensation is independent and has a unique definition, reported similar patterns between appetitive sensations in multiple studies raise questions about whether participants fully comprehend appetite concepts and provide accurate responses. To overcome this potential limitation, appetite concept materials were developed, and two groups of individuals were provided training either with these materials or unrelated sensory information followed by measurement of appetite responses to five different pre-loads. This study terminated early due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thus we cannot draw a conclusion for now due to the limited number of participants.  </p> <p>A second study sought to gain insights on the sensory qualities of fatty acids as part of an effort to determine if oral fat detection is based, in part, on gustatory cues. It has been argued that if fat taste is a primary, the sensations imparted by fats should yield unique percepts and these may be determined by fatty acid chain length. In particular, because acids impart a sour taste, free fatty acids may simply be detected as sour. The fat taste study entailed measurement of intensity ratings with or without sour adaptation (to assess sour notes), tongue locations of taste detection, and subjective descriptors of fatty acids. This study examined intensity and quality ratings of NEFA's ranging from C2 to C18. Oral sites and the time course of sensations were also monitored. Given all NEFA contain carboxylic acid moieties capable of donating hydrogen ions, the primary stimulus for sour taste, testing was conducted with and without sour adaptation to explore the contribution of sour taste across the range of NEFA. Short chain NEFA (C2-C6) were rated as predominantly sour, and this was diminished in C2 and C4 by sour adaptation. Medium chain NEFA (C8-C12) were rated as mainly irritating with long chain NEFA (C18) described mostly as bitter. The latter may reflect the lack of “fatty” lexicon to describe the sensation. Short chain NEFA were mostly localized to the anterior tongue and were of rapid onset. The sensation from medium chain NEFA was attributed to the lateral tongue while medium and long chain NEFA sensations were predominantly localized to the back of the tongue and throat and had a longer lag time. The findings indicate there is a systematic transition of NEFA taste quality and irritation with increments in chain length and this is consistent with multiple modes of transduction.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The impacts of processing on protein structure are of broad interest to the food science community including ingredient producers, product developers, and researchers. Processing and isolation steps induce protein structural changes which occur due to temperature based, shear, and chemical inputs, leading to denatured protein with different functionalities. However, exploration of the protein folding landscape as a way to intentionally modify protein conformation is not widely understood in food science. This particularly applies to cold denaturation, which is the structural changes in protein as the result of low temperature treatments.</p><p dir="ltr">This work has two primary goals. The first was to develop understanding of protein conformations resulting from cold denaturation and its implications for food textural properties. Pea protein was selected for this work since it is a source of plant-based protein that has recently grown in popularity and contains many hydrophobic amino acids that would make is susceptible to cold denaturation. Cold denaturation was studied using physicochemical techniques including differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential, fluorescence spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, and rheology. These techniques are used to characterize untreated pea protein, and proteins that have been modified using different combinations of ethanol, shear forces, acidic conditions, extrusion, and temperatures below 0°C. Significant physicochemical differences are found as the result of low temperatures, driven by an increase in surface hydrophobicity and electrostatic interactions. These differences led to protein gelation through hydrophobic forces, changing the nature of gels. Similarly, the increase in protein hydrophobicity leads to more stable emulsions from these products and unique fatty extrudates.</p><p dir="ltr">A second aim of this work developed bioinformatic models to interpret physiochemical data and provide mechanistic understanding of the process, as well as predict functional properties based on protein models. Strong correlations are found for the zeta potential, secondary structure, hydrogen bonds, and surface hydrophobicity. These models are used to convert data into physicochemical energy and used to provide reasonable estimates of mechanical properties of pea protein in extrusion, gelation, and emulsification. Together, this work shows that cold denaturation may be a useful tool for food product developers creating fatty and creamy textures. It also suggests bioinformatic modeling as a tool to estimate protein functionality, which could lead to tremendous time savings in process and product design.</p>

En Analyse Sensorielle, les préférences des consommateurs sont généralement modélisées en fonction de données sensorielles par les méthodes de cartographie des préférences. L'objectif de cette thèse est de modéliser les préférences des consommateurs en intégrant, en plus des données sensorielles, de nouvelles variables relatives à leur perception des produits. Nous appellerons ces variables les dimensions subjectives. Elles recouvrent des dimensions pragmatiques liées à l'utilisation du produit et des dimensions plus symboliques telles que l'esthétisme, la modernité, l'originalité…Les problématiques relatives aux dimensions subjectives ont d'abord été étudiées lors d'une étude exploratoire sur des tasses à café. L'ensemble du travail a ensuite été réalisé sur 11 sièges de voitures. Dans un premier temps, des entretiens qualitatifs ont été réalisés auprès de 16 consommateurs d'une part et de 2 designers d'autre part. Ces entretiens ont permis d'identifier les dimensions subjectives caractéristiques des sièges. Une évaluation quantitative des dimensions subjectives et des préférences a ensuite été réalisée par 110 consommateurs. Enfin, les sièges ont été caractérisés sensoriellement par des experts. Les préférences des consommateurs ont été modélisées en fonction des données sensorielles et des dimensions subjectives par des modèles d'équations structurelles à variables latentes, plus précisément par Partial Least Square Path Modeling. Quatre modèles, fondés sur les groupes de préférences, ont été mis en place. Selon le groupe étudié, la contribution des deux jeux de données diffère et quatre profils de clients sont identifiés. D'un point de vue méthodologique, ce travail fournit des éléments de réponse sur l'intérêt des dimensions subjectives pour la modélisation des préférences. L'ensemble de la démarche est en cours d'application sur un produit alimentaire : le chocolat. / In Sensory Science, preference mapping is used to explain consumers' preferences with sensory data. This PhD aims to integrate not only sensory data but also new variables that are related to consumers' perception of the product in the modelling of consumers' preferences. These variables are labelled as subjective dimensions. They address the pragmatic dimensions that cover the context of use of the products and more symbolic dimensions, such as aesthetics, modernity, originality…An exploratory study based on coffee cups was a first mean to approach the issues related to subjective dimensions. Then, all the work was done on a study of 11 car seats. The first step consisted in qualitative interviews of 16 consumers and of 2 designers. These interviews allowed identifying the subjective dimensions that characterize car seats. 110 consumers then performed a quantitative evaluation of their preferences and subjective dimensions. Finally, the seats were characterized by experts with sensory descriptors. The consumers' preferences were modelled according to both sensory data and subjective dimensions, using structural equations: the Partial Least Square Path Modeling. Four models based on preferences clustering were established. The contribution of two kinds of data differed according to the considered cluster, which led to the identification of four customer profiles. From a methodological point of view, this work provides first elements about the benefit of subjective dimensions in preference modelling. The methodology is being implemented on a food product: chocolate.