Professor John Prescott

Dr Prescott is an internationally recognised expert in sensory science and consumer behaviour. His work focuses on understanding the psychological and sensory drivers of food preferences, including cross-cultural influences, learning mechanisms, and the perception of taste, odour, flavour, and chemesthetic stimuli.

His research also explores the role of personality, genetics, and emotion in shaping food perceptions and preferences, with an emphasis on how these factors interact to influence consumer behaviour and food choice.

Dr Prescott is the author of more than 150 refereed publications in his area of expertise. He is also the author of the book Taste Matters: Why We Like the Foods We Do (2012), and its Italian translation, Questione Di Gusto (2013).

Area of expertise

• Cross-cultural aspects of perception and food preferences
• Origins of food preferences with emphasis on learning mechanisms
• Perception of tastes, odours, flavours and chemesthetic stimuli, including their multimodal interactions
• Role of personality and genetic traits and food perceptions and preferences
• Food-related emotions

Professional History

Dr Prescott obtained his PhD in neuropsychology in 1986 from the University of New South Wales (Faculty of Medicine). Since then, he has held positions as Principal Research Scientist and Co-Director of the Sensory Research Centre, CSIRO Food Science & Technology (Australia), Director of the Sensory Science Research Centre, University of Otago (New Zealand), as well as professorial positions in the psychology departments of James Cook University (Cairns, Australia) and the University of Newcastle (Australia).

He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy), where he has taught in the Understanding Consumers international course for the past ten years. He has previously been a visiting professor at The University of Oxford (UK), Reading University (UK) and The George Institute (Sydney, Australia).

From 2005 to 2024, he was joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Food Quality and Preference and has also served on the editorial boards of Chemosensory Perception and Journal of Sensory Studies.

Recent publications

• Spinelli, S., Cunningham, C., Prescott, J., Monteleone, E., Dinnella, C., Proserpio, C. & White, T.L. (2024). Sweet liking predicts liking and familiarity of some alcoholic beverages, but not alcohol intake: A population study using a split-sample approach. Food Research International, 183, 114155.
• Hayes, J., Spinelli, S., Moulinier, V., Hopfer, H., Prescott, J. & Monteleone, E. (2024). Distinct Sensory Hedonic Functions for Sourness in Adults. Food Quality and Preference, 116, 105152.
• Prescott, J. & Spinelli, S. (2024). Arousal and the modulation of sensory experience: Evidence from food-related emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 379, 20230255.
• Spinelli, S., Prescott, J., Dinnella, C., Naes, T., & Monteleone, E. (2025). Taste Responsiveness, Anxiety-Related Personality Traits, and Sex Differences in Food Preferences. Food Quality and Preference, 105670.
• Prescott, J. (2025). The development of food preferences. In: H.L. Meiselman (ed.) Handbook of Eating and Drinking: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 2nd edition, Springer.
• Prescott, J. (2026). Affect-based discrimination. In: G. Ares, P. Varela-Tomasco (eds.) Methods in Consumer Research, 2nd edition, Vol 1, Duxford: Woodhead, pp. 257-274.
• Peng, M. & Prescott, J. (2026). Psychographics: Personality variables in consumer research. In: G. Ares, P. Varela-Tomasco (eds.) Methods in Consumer Research, 2nd ed., Vol 1, Duxford: Woodhead, pp. 31-58.

Representative career publications

• Prescott, J., Allen, S., & Stephens, L. (1993). Interactions between oral chemical irritation, taste, and temperature. Chemical Senses, 18 (4), 389-404.
• Stevenson, R.J., Prescott, J. & Boakes, R.A. (1995). The acquisition of taste properties by odors. Learning & Motivation, 26, 433-455.
• Prescott, J. (1999). Flavour as a psychological construct: Implications for perceiving and measuring the sensory qualities of foods. Food Quality & Preference, 10, 349-356.
• Prescott, J., Ripandelli, N. & Wakeling, I. (2001). Intensity of tastes in binary mixtures in PROP non-tasters, medium-tasters and super-tasters. Chemical Senses, 26, 993-1003.
• Prescott, J., Norris, L., Kunst, M. & Kim, S. (2005) An estimate of the “consumer rejection threshold” for TCA in white wine. Food Quality & Preference, 16, 345-349.
• Small, D.M. & Prescott, J. (2005). Odor/taste integration and the perception of flavor. Experimental Brain Research, 166, 345-357.
• Prescott, J. & Wilkie, J. (2007). Pain tolerance selectively increased by a sweet-smelling odor. Psychological Science, 18 (4), 308-311.
• Prescott, J. & Murphy, S. (2009). Inhibition of evaluative and perceptual odour-taste learning by attention to the stimulus elements. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(11), 2133-2140.
• Dermiki, M., Prescott, J., Sargent, L.J., Willway, J., Gosney, M.A. & Methven, L. (2015). Novel flavours paired with glutamate condition increased intake in older adults in the absence of changes in liking. Appetite, 90, 108-113.
• Jaeger, S.R., Rasmussen, M.A. & Prescott, J. (2017). Food neophobia, food preferences and intake in a sample of New Zealand adults. Appetite, 116, 410-422.
• Jaeger, S.R., Hedderley, D. & Prescott, J. (2023). High arousal as the source of food rejection in food neophobia. Food Research International, 168, 112795.
• Prescott, J. & Spinelli, S. (2024). Arousal and the modulation of sensory experience: Evidence from food-related emotions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 379, 20230255.