title: Repetition counts: repeated exposure increases intake of a novel vegetable in UK pre-school children compared to flavour-flavour and flavour-nutrient learning.
abstract: Children are not consuming sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables in their habitual diet. Methods derived from associative learning theories could be effective at promoting vegetable intake in pre-school children. The objective of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of different learning strategies in promoting the intake of a novel vegetable. Children aged between 9 and 38 months were recruited from UK nurseries. The children (n 72) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (repeated exposure, flavour-flavour learning or flavour-nutrient learning). Each child was offered ten exposures to their respective version of a novel vegetable (artichoke). Pre- and post-intervention measures of artichoke purée and carrot purée (control vegetable) intake were taken. At pre-intervention, carrot intake was significantly higher than artichoke intake (P<0·05). Intake of both vegetables increased over time (P<0·001); however, when changes in intake were investigated, artichoke intake increased significantly more than carrot intake (P<0·001). Artichoke intake increased to the same extent in all three conditions, and this effect was persistent up to 5 weeks post-intervention. Five exposures were sufficient to increase intake compared to the first exposure (P<0·001). Repeated exposure to three variants of a novel vegetable was sufficient to increase intake of this vegetable, regardless of the addition of a familiar taste or energy. Repetition is therefore a critical factor for promoting novel vegetable intake in pre-school children.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Samantha J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Caton
authors.forename: Sara M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ahern
authors.forename: Eloise
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Remy
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicklaus
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Blundell
authors.forename: Marion M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hetherington
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002675:Child, Preschool; D031943:Cynara scolymus; D018552:Daucus carota; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D006113:United Kingdom; D014675:Vegetables