Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on May 17, 2007
Chemical Senses 2007 32(6):505-513; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjm019
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Providing Information about a Flavor to Preschoolers: Effects on Liking and Memory for Having Tasted It
1 Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA 2 Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Correspondence to be sent to: Julie C. Lumeng, Center for Human Growth and Development, 10th Floor, 300 North Ingalls Building, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0406, USA. e-mail: jlumeng{at}umich.edu
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Abstract |
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This study sought to determine if providing affectively positive information about a flavor to preschool-aged children during tasting will increase recognition of and liking for the flavor and if the recognition and liking are associated. Forty-six 3- to 6-year-old children tasted 10 flavors: 5 presented with affectively positive information and 5 without. The 10 flavors were then presented again interspersed with 10 distracter flavors. Children reported whether they had tasted the flavor previously and provided hedonic ratings for each flavor. Children's ability to remember having tasted a flavor was greater when the flavor was presented with affectively positive information than without in children throughout the age range of 3–6 years. In children younger than 4.5 years, the provision of information had no effect on hedonic rating, whereas in older children, the provision of information was associated with greater hedonic ratings. We conclude that providing affectively positive information to children about a flavor can increase their ability to recognize the flavor as previously tasted and increases hedonic rating of the flavor in children older than 4.5 years.
Key words: child development, food preferences, memory
Accepted 12 March 2007