This thesis investigates the acquisition and alteration of food preferences and food consumption in infants and young children. In total, seven experiments were conducted.
Three experiments were completed with infants aged from six months to two years - the primary focus of these studies was an investigation of the impact of exposure and adult modelling on the infants' food consumption patterns. Target foods were presented. in series of exposure trials and the infants consumption levels tracked on a trial-to-trial basis. The consumption of non-exposed control foods was also assessed. It was found that the infants consumed many of the featured novel foods at quite high levels, even with minimal exposure.
Four experiments were completed assessing the role of verbal production,
specifically naming, upon young childrens' verbal statements of preference about foods, and their consumption of these foods. These experiments were predominantly conducted to develop a reliable procedure to assess the influence of such verbal effects. Children were taught to name one set of six food stimuli (each differing only in colour), three with one common name and three with another. Having then tasted the stimuli and learned that one name was linked with a palatable flavour and the other linked with an unpalatable flavour, the children proceeded to learn to name a new set of six stimuli - three referred to with one of the earlier common names, and three referred to with the other. After considerable procedural refinement, it was found that using the common name led children to consume or avoid consuming foods never before tasted.
These results are considered from a behaviour analytic perspective within
the context of the existing food preferences literature and the major
implications are presented.