*4.1. Traditional Method, Self-Reported Emotional Measurement and Purchase Intent*

In general, energy drink A had higher liking scores than those of energy drink B. The high content of sugar and caffeine present in sample A might have influenced its overall liking. However, no significant differences were found between both samples in the liking of sensory attributes such as appearance, aroma, flavour, sweetness and aftertaste. The familiarity of the product or product category [54] and similar ingredients in both samples can be the reason for not having significant differences in the hedonic ratings of other attributes in the study. Earlier studies showed that the sensory profile of the products made with different ingredients had a strong influence on the hedonic liking scores [55] as compared to products made with similar ingredients.

For the self-elicited emotions, sample A had higher frequency values for positive emotions such as "active", "good", "adventurous", "pleasant", "joyful", "contempt", "warm", "interested", and "happy" compared to those of sample B. Sample A had a higher liking score, and also received a higher selection of high-arousal emotion terms such as "adventurous", and "active". This result shows that high-arousal emotional terms were important for brand liking in the energy drink category. The selection of high-arousal emotions such as "active" and "adventurous" can be due to the high sugar and caffeine contents in the energy drinks. Specterman et al. (2005) studied that the combined effect of caffeine and glucose had increased excitability and impulsiveness, as blood glucose level

increased after consumption [56]. The explicit measurements showed that the positive emotions such as "happy", "joyful", and "pleasant" have higher frequency counts as compared to negative emotions such as "sad" and "angry". These results are in line with earlier findings that consumers use more positive emotions to describe food products than negative emotions [29,57]. In the present study, there was no significant difference in the purchase intent based on the sensory attributes of the energy drinks. Although, the majority of panellists (68%) preferred buying energy drink A rather than energy drink B (55%). This shows that explicit emotions and the overall liking of the product influence the purchase decisions taken by the consumers, as studied earlier [58,59] and plays an essential part in our lives.
