Representation of wine and beer: Influence of expertise

Publication date: Available online 13 July 2019Source: Current Opinion in Food ScienceAuthor(s): Carole Honoré-Chedozeau, Maud Desmas, Jordi Ballester, Wendy V Parr, Sylvie CholletExpertise in the beverage industries has a long tradition (e.g., where a company expert graded teas) but was relatively neglected by science until after World War II. By drawing on methodologies and theory for studying expertise in domains such as chess playing, researchers in the fields of wine and beer have begun to elucidate the cognitive processes implicated in the acquisition and implementation of expertise relevant to analytical sensory evaluation in the domains of wine and beer. The present article reviews research that makes evident how our perceptual, conceptual, memory, imaging, knowledge representation, judgment and language abilities can be affected by domain-specific experience and knowledge accumulation. This review also makes explicit the complex nature of many of the underlying cognitive processes implicated in development of expertise. Despite lack of consensus in results in some areas of research, outcomes of reviewed studies overall demonstrate that experience in a sensory field influences both perceptual and thought processes in ways that provide experts with advantages over less-experienced individuals in terms of competency, speed and in reduction of cognitive load.

Source: Current Opinion in Food Science - July 14, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research