Visual exposure impacts on toddlers' willingness to taste fruits and vegetables.
This study explores the effects of exposure to pictures of fruits and vegetables on young children's willingness to taste the foods. The parents of 20 toddlers aged 21-24 months were asked to read a picture book about four foods with their child every day for two weeks. In a subsequent 'taste test' children displayed a neophobic pattern of behaviour towards foods to which they had not been exposed, but not towards exposed foods. Furthermore, while exposure served to decrease children's willingness to taste familiar vegetables, it increased their willingness to taste unfamiliar fruits.
Houston-Price
Carmel
C
School of Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Earley Gate, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AL, UK. c.houston-price@reading.ac.uk
Butler
Laurie
L
Shiba
Paula
P
D001877:Books; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014675:Vegetables; D014796:Visual Perception