The Association between Flavor Labeling and Flavor Recall Ability in Children

Abstract

This study sought to determine if the ability to label a flavor is associated with an improved ability to recall having tasted the flavor in preschool-aged children. A total of 120 3- to 6-year-old English-speaking children tasted and labeled 20 different flavors, blinded to color. Children's labels for the flavors were scored for consistency and accuracy. Recall for having tasted the flavor was tested. Both labeling ability and recall ability improved rapidly between the ages of 3 and 6 years in this cohort. Regression analysis indicated that independent of the child's age, consistent accurate labeling was positively associated with recall ability. Higher maternal education was an independent and marginal contributor to greater recall ability. The combination of consistent and accurate labeling, age, and maternal education accounted for 28% of the variance in flavor recall ability. Consistent but inaccurate labeling alone contributed little to the variance in flavor recall ability. We conclude from these findings that children's ability to recall having tasted a flavor develops rapidly during the preschool age range and that improved recall ability is associated with the ability to consistently and accurately label the flavor. We conclude that language mediates memory for flavors in young children.

Children's use of adult testimony to guide food selection

“…The six 'palatable' flavors (apricot, berry blue, Dr. Pepper, grape, kiwi, and plum) were identified from 50 commercially available flavors based on ratings in prior work with the same age range involving 166 children, each of whom tasted 20 different jelly bean flavors (Lumeng & Cardinal, 2007;Lumeng, Zuckerman, Cardinal, & Kaciroti, 2005). The six 'unpalatable' flavors (dirt, garlic, mango, sardine, spaghetti, and spinach) were selected from a line of 14 commercially available novelty jelly beans intended to elicit disgust reactions from children (e.g.…”

“…Parents of children in our two prior studies using jelly beans as stimuli with children drawn from the same population were queried regarding their child's familiarity with jelly beans. The vast majority of parents reported that their child had previously eaten jelly beans (Lumeng & Cardinal, 2007;Lumeng et al, 2005). Children tasted one quarter of each jelly bean.…”

Research challenges and methods to study food preferences in school-aged children: A review of the last 15years

“…Although the implicit nature of food memory is evident, most of the available studies in this field deal with conscious and intentional mechanisms of learning. As regarding children, studies are focused on explicit paradigms to investigate the relationship between flavor labeling and recognition (Frank, Brearton, Rybalsky, Cessna, & Howe, 2011;Lumeng, Zuckerman, Cardinal, & Kaciroti, 2005). However, this approach is reductive as it does not take into consideration the incidental component of memory processes and the understanding of food memory under natural conditions.…”

Promoción positiva de vegetales en preescolares costarricenses empleando el Kamishibai

“…Gracias a la interacción preliminar con sus responsables, pudo verificarse que los niños y niñas no padecieran de ningún problema crónico de alimentación o bien alguna restricción médica que les impidieran participar en las pruebas (Birch y Fisher, 2000;Fischer, Mitchell, Smiciklas-Wright y Birch, 2002). Quienes tuvieron un historial médico de desórdenes alimenticios, psicomotores o problemas de expresión se excluyeron del estudio (Lumeng, Zuckerman, Cardinal y Kaciroti, 2005). Fue también necesario que los niños y niñas se hallaran disponibles en el horario requerido, y que estuviesen dispuestos a ser evaluados sin la presencia de sus familiares (Chen, Resurrección y Paguio, 1996;Cartín, 2005).…”

“…Antes de realizar las evaluaciones sensoriales y cognitivas con las personas menores, los investigadores se capacitaron en las metodologías y objetivos de las evaluaciones a aplicar antes del inicio de la etapa experimental (Lumeng et al, 2005). Finalizado este proceso, se llevó a cabo una semana de familiarización: las investigadoras tenían el objetivo de entablar relaciones positivas con la población infantil que sería parte del proceso, de modo que se generara un ambiente de confianza que favoreciera su participación activa (Kimmel, Sigman-Grant y Guinard, 1994;Popper y Kroll, 2003).…”