Forty-nine years of sensory research literature: A review on its development, foundation and future research directions

The notion of sensory is complex and bounded with different disciplines. Even though the relationship between the senses and consumer marketing has been acknowledged, the conceptual foundation is fragmented and scattered; it has become more multifaceted due to the increased attention it and its related concepts have drawn, which makes an investigation of the concept essential. We evaluate the foundational structure of sensory research over four decades. Our findings revealed twelve research groups (i.e., spatial judgement) and six research clusters (i.e., transition from experience to sensory) embodied by sensory research, which can be considered to make up the integral structure of the sensory domain. We provide a comprehensive understanding of sensory research for those who wish to understand its intellectual structure and a future research model that identifies three important perspectives (methodological, micro and macro) for researchers hoping to provide insights into sensory research based on emerging sensory topics.