Metacognitive profiling of PDO goat cheese consumers based on self-perceived sensory evaluation difficulty

Consumer evaluation of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) products depends not only on perceptual acuity but also on metacognitive calibration, defined as the individual's self-assessed ability to identify and interpret sensory attributes. However, self-perceived sensory competence remains underexplored as a segmentation variable in traditional cheese markets. This study characterized consumer profiles of PDO Canarian goat cheeses - Majorero and Palmero-based on perceived sensory evaluation difficulty and examined profile redistribution following short-term educational exposure. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was conducted with 270 participants (539 pre and post training questionaries) across four Canary Islands. Perceived difficulty in identifying 25 visual, textural, olfactory, gustatory, and temporal attributes was measured using five-point Likert scales. Attribute-specific Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) decision trees were constructed using sociodemographic and experiential predictors. Results identified five metacognitive competence profiles. Texture and aromatic categorization attributes showed the greatest difficulty dispersion, whereas basic tastes (salty, sweet) demonstrated near-ceiling accessibility (>70% Easy/Very Easy). Mean ten-fold cross-validated accuracy was 33.6% (chance = 20%), and all models were significant according to Press's Q (p < .001). Short-term informational exposure shifted intermediate competence profiles upward by 4-8 percentage points. Self-reported PDO knowledge and prior sensory training emerged as the most consistent predictors across models. These findings support self-perceived sensory evaluation difficulty as a functional segmentation variable in PDO cheese evaluation.