**5. Conclusions**

The traditional sensory methods using a hedonic scale offer benefits in terms of their speed and ease of use but have shortcomings in quantifying the full range of emotional responses and reasons behind liking or disliking of yogurt products. Conscious and unconscious methods can also be combined with a hedonic scale for a better understanding of consumer perceptions. These advanced approaches were found to be useful in measuring the cultural differences in liking towards yogurt products, even though the hedonic scale liking scores were similar. The conscious approach using the CATA methodology explained a higher proportion of variance for yogurt-tasting data. In contrast, the novel facial expression recognition approach distinguished the acceptability of different yogurt samples—more specifically, disliked samples—even though this method explained a very low proportion of the variability in the consumer data. The effect of culture was shown by the CATA and FER methods, where each culture displayed a different set of emotions for the tasted yogurts. Although an effect of culture was not shown by the traditional hedonic scale method, this effect was seen on the price perception of the tasted yogurts. At least in the evaluation of yogurt formulations, it is therefore recommended that these different methods be combined for a more comprehensive explanation of consumer perceptions and expectations in a multi-cultural environment.
