For over 40 years, Kansei-based research and development have been conducted in Japan and other East Asian countries and these decades of research have influenced Kansei interpretation. New methods and applications, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence, have emerged since the millennium, as the Kansei concept has spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This paper reviews past literature and industrial experience, offering a comprehensive understanding of Kansei, the underlying philosophy, and the methodology of Kansei Engineering from the approach of psychology and physiology, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The breadth of Kansei is described by examples, emerging from both industry and academia. Additionally, thematic mapping of the state-of-the-art as well as an outlook are derived from feedback obtained from structured interview of thirty-five of the most distinguished researchers in Kansei. The mapping provides insights into current trends and future directions. Kansei is unique because it includes the consideration of emotion in the design of products and services. The paper aims at becoming a reference for researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders across borders and cultures, looking for holistic perspectives on Kansei, Kansei Engineering, and implementation methods. The novelty of the paper resides in the unification of authors amongst pioneers from different parts of the world, spanning across diversified academic backgrounds, knowledge areas and industries.

Food development, which focuses on people’s physiological and psychological states, has attracted interest in recent years. Sensory evaluation using human senses has been used in food development. Several recent studies have evaluated the physiological and psychological states of eating. However, designing food products that induce feelings such as “concentration” and “arousal” in actual product design based on these studies alone is difficult because the causal relationship between food properties based on the sensory evaluation and physiological and psychological states of eating are not precise. The objective of this study was to reveal the relationship between food properties and physiological and psychological states during eating, with the aim of developing food products that induce arbitrary emotions. Models were constructed to estimate the subtyped physiological and psychological states during eating based on food properties obtained from sensory evaluations. The subtypes of physiological and psychological states during eating were identified using cluster analysis. The results showed that this method can clarify the relationship between food characteristics and physiological and psychological states during eating.

Digital addiction received widespread concern but was poorly defined. Self-perceived addiction can aid users in refraining from addiction. People primarily perceive digital addiction subjectively rather than through its objective definitions. The research gap concerning people’s subjective perceptions of digital addiction requires further exploration. This study determined how people subjectively perceive and define addiction based on behavioral and cognitive factors. A between-group experiment involving 109 participants from different countries was conducted to classify whether hypothetical individuals described in hypothetical questions were addicted. The findings reveal that regret plays a crucial role in self-perception. People perceive digital behavior through its image, content, and impact rather than the medium itself. The study suggests potential interventions, such as presenting information that can trigger regretful emotions, reinforcing negative images of the behavior, indicating harmful content, or demonstrating adverse consequences in application designs, to prevent or abstain users from digital addiction.

Some female dance forms of Japanese traditional dance was performed by three male dancers and measured using video cameras and motion capture system. One hundred eighty-nine observers evaluated both their impressions (67 dimensions) and the dance movements (38 characteristics). The results showed that observers recognized the “feminine” performance of male dancers. The impressions of Dignified, Fluent, Unsteady, Equal, Nimble, and Asymmetric--and the movement characteristics Magnitude of Hip Rotation and Slow Movement of Limbs, Asymmetry of Torso Movement and Small Arm Movements, Slow Movement of Chest, and Back Tilt Using Lower Back--were extracted via factor analysis as determinants of observers’ perceptions of femininity in the expressions. Covariance structure analysis indicated that the magnitude of hip rotation and slow movement of limbs, asymmetry of torso movements and small arm movements, slow movement of the chest, and back tilt using lower back, to create Dignified, Asymmetric, and Equal impressions affected the perceptions of femininity in Japanese traditional dance. This study showed the elements of femininity of female dance form in Japanese traditional dance by male dancers.

This study explores how style-based categorization of paintings influences affective evaluations of paintings through two psychological experiments. Participants were non-experts in art, and experimental stimuli were Vincent van Gogh’s and Paul Gauguin’s paintings. In Experiment 1, participants first learned how to distinguish the two styles and then rated the prototypicalities and their affective impressions of the paintings. In Experiment 2, participants rated their affective impressions of the paintings without undergoing a style-learning phase. Comparisons of the results of the two experiments demonstrate that style-based categorization of paintings makes affective evaluations of paintings become similar across people. The comparisons also helped us generate the hypothesis that a person’s preference for a style of painting influences his/her preference for a newly encountered painting of the style with an intensity that equals the product of the person’s preference for the style and the painting’s prototypicality to that style.

There is an increasing demand for foods that are not only tasty and healthy but also contribute to mental health. Herein, the subjective moods of 11 participants (six males and five females) were measured to evaluate the effects of consuming flavored jelly beverages on their emotional sensitivity. To investigate the effects of food quality factors, the four test samples were a flavored jelly beverage, a flavored jelly beverage without flavor (fruit juice and flavoring), a flavored jelly beverage without a gelling agent, and water. The effects of flavor and gelling agent were compared, and the subjective moods of the participants were evaluated before and after the consumption of the test sample. Principal component analysis of mood differences before and after sample consumption revealed that the first and second principal components represented “pleasure-displeasure” and “arousal-sleepiness”, respectively. The analysis also reported that the flavor and gelatinization increased pleasure and arousal, respectively.