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neuroscience, education, health, medicine, linguistics, reading,
ophthalmology, visual perception, software development, and
user experience (82, 109).
Eye-tracking application in food safety research
Within food and drink settings, fixations and saccades
(rapid movements) are analyzed to examine shopper
engagement with packaging, which can be used to improve
in-store merchandising (116, 120-122). Pieters and Warlop
(77) determined product preference correlated with shopper
attention. Although eye-tracking technology is widely used
to explore consumer behavior, it also could be applied to
explore the interaction of a target audience with food safety
educational interventions such as videos or leaflets. This
technology could be particularly beneficial for evaluation of
interventions to determine engagement or specific points of
disengagement and to determine whether all critical elements
were being "seen." The data captured with such technology
could inform placement of key messages in interventions.
Eye-tracking technology can be used alongside STE and
head-mounted displays to explore visualizations in an
immersive environment. Lawrence et al. (58, 59) explored
how commercial STE and eye-tracking research is conducted
for food packaging design assessment, providing real-life
context for product testing in a laboratory setting. Research
combining VR and eye-tracking technology can be used to
assess decision making in real-life scenarios (69), particularly
in hazardous situations (91, 102).
Biometric technologies
Numerous biometric technologies are available to provide
physiological measurements via sensors that monitor specific
bodily activity (e.g., pulse rate, brain activity, sweat glands,
visible expressions, and pupil diameter) as indicators of
human responses and reactions to experiences.
* Emotion state software: Facial expression coding
software recognizes facial muscle activity to provide
measurements of emotions through visible expressions
(61). Emotion state technology is a noncontact
automated system founded on the basic emotion
states defined by Ekman and Friesen (31) (happiness,
sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, and fear). The
technology has been used by researchers and marketers
interested in understanding the effect of stimuli on
emotions and human behavior through evaluation
of the effects of emotions on mood. The nonverbal
communication of emotions provides objective
insights into the interactions of individuals with other
people, machines, and products (97). In food-mood
research, this biometric technique can be used to detect
changes in emotion states evoked by various food
tastes. Traditionally, consumer acceptance of new food
products is tested explicitly (e.g., acceptance ratings).
Implicit tests of emotion states can provide additional

information on consumer acceptance and enjoyment of
foods (27).
* Galvanic skin response technology: With this
technology, the conductivity of skin (electrodermal
activity) can be assessed via sensors attached to the
fingers; these sensors then measure changes in the skin
conductance response (10, 11, 14). The differences
in the electrical conduciveness of the skin is caused
by changes in moisture levels (sweat) (23), which are
associated with mental activity. This technology can
be used to determine physiological arousal, which is
used as an indicator of emotional response to stimuli
(10, 55), and is regarded as one of the most robust
measurements of arousal (38). Galvanic skin response
data have been used to measure the psychological
state of participants in wide-ranging research scenarios
that encompass emotionally evocative stimuli (55),
anticipations of risks (21), consumer attitudes, and
purchasing behavior (19, 46, 47, 72, 119).
* Heart rate variability technology: The electrical activity
of the heart, as measured with an electrocardiogram,
can vary during the cardiac cycle (1, 90, 94). Advances
in portable sport and health devices (e.g., the Fitbit)
in recent years has increased the accessibility of heart
rate data and can indicate levels of physiological arousal
away from the laboratory (7). During stress, the heart
rate increases due to processes in the autonomic
nervous system (2, 26, 76, 96). Variations in heart rate
can also indicate immediate changes in arousal, physical
effort, cognitive effort, and attention (8, 78, 99). In
research settings, prolonged cardiac deceleration has
been associated with enhanced attention and processing
of stimuli (13, 57). The effectiveness of advertising
stimuli can be highly dependent on arousal and
attention capabilities (8, 57). This biometric approach
has been applied in STE-based tourism research to
assess reactions to a tourism-related setting and to
explore the potential for tourism to alleviate stress and
enhance hedonic well-being (4, 63, 92, 93).
Biometric technology application in food safety
research
In consumer research, biometric measurements (heart
rate, galvanic skin response, and emotion state) have been
combined to investigate responses to popular and unpopular
brand logos (66). Although each technology has its
individual merit, combining such technologies is beneficial
for obtaining a robust interpretation of physiological
arousal and emotional intensity in response to stimuli. The
multimodal approach of combining biometric techniques can
strengthen behavior predictors (118). Combined biometric
techniques could be used to measure a variety of emotional
responses to food safety training or education interventions.
Emotion is an important element in education because it

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