The role of novelty detection in food memory

From mood to food and from food to mood: A psychological perspective on the measurement of food-related emotions in consumer research

“…The question then arises whether these expectations are emotional and associative or sensory in nature. In view of the fact that there is ample evidence that our recognition memory for food is based on change detection rather than on recollection (Köster et al, 2014;Morin-Audebrand et al, 2012) the latter is highly unlikely. Thus, in keeping with our preliminary findings on the 'memorability' of foods it seems that the emotions are more related to the eating situations than to the food itself.…”

“…Nevertheless, these influences are probably much weaker than the ones that are based on experiences in earlier eating situations and carry the emotional content of these earlier occasions usually with them. In fact, there is ample evidence that we do not remember the food we ate earlier with precision, but are immediately reminded of the earlier situation in which we ate it (its ambiance or the company we ate it with) or we note deviations from it as a surprise and warning: "attention, not encountered before in the same or a similar situation" (Köster et al, 2014;Morin-Audebrand et al, 2012). In a preliminary study on the "memorability" of foods -the spontaneous occurrence of food memories in non-eating situations -the present authors also obtained indications that the emotions related to the eating situations and not the properties of the food itself raise such spontaneous memories, even though the latter may have contributed to the emotional colour of the former.…”

“…This may also explain why in the experiments discussed here, the emotions related to chocolate that is mostly eaten alone and often as a consolation during negative mood moments, are much stronger than the emotions to chips which are usually consumed rather inattentively as a side dish to drinks in larger gatherings of people. In summary, like odours (Wiemers, Sauvage, & Wolf, 2014; Zucco, Aiello, Turuani, & Köster, 2012), food names and even tasted foods are effective retrieval cues for earlier associated situations, but not for precise sensory recollection of the unchanged food itself (Köster et al, 2014;Møller, Mojet, & Köster, 2007;Morin-Audebrand et al, 2012). Basing themselves on the idea that people eat the things they like, and Cardello et al (2012) have assumed that foods elicit mainly positive emotions, constructing the EsSense scale with a predominance of positive emotion words.…”

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

“…If we consider the way we learn, store, and retrieve sensory food input, it is fairly evident that we rarely pay attention to what we eat or drink, unless something differs from our expectations (Morin-Audebrand et al, 2012). Nevertheless, sensory information is unconsciously retained by the brain and remains ''hidden'' until the time when a new food is experienced (Köster, Prescott, & Köster, 2004).…”

Recognition of familiar food activates feeding via an endocrine serotonin signal in Caenorhabditis elegans

“…In contrast, familiarity discrimination is mere sensation of prior occurrence and thus does not accompany episodic memory (Brown and Aggleton, 2001). Accumulated studies show that mere exposure to particular food alters subsequent consumption of the food in many different species (Pliner et al, 1993; Wang and Provenza, 1996; Diaz-Cenzano and Chotro, 2010; Morin-Audebrand et al, 2012), suggesting that feeding regulation by familiarity discrimination is conserved across species. Some species including humans consume familiar food more actively than novel food (Diaz-Cenzano and Chotro, 2010), probably to avoid possible pathogens.…”